Pierre Caziot
| Pierre Caziot | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Minister of Agriculture and Supplies (or Secretary of State) | |
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In office 12 July 1940 – 18 April 1942 |
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| Preceded by | Albert Chichery |
| Succeeded by | Jacques Le Roy Ladurie |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
24 September 1876 Crézancy-en-Sancerre, Cher, France |
| Died | 4 January 1953 (aged 76) Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
Pierre Caziot (24 September 1876 – 4 January 1953) was a French agricultural expert and administrator who was Minister of Agriculture and Supplies in the Vichy government during World War II (1939–45). He was a strong believer in the value of the peasant-owned family farm, and promoted the "back to the land" policies of Marshal Philippe Pétain during the war.
Pierre Caziot was born in Crézancy-en-Sancerre, Cher, on 24 September 1876. Caziot ran a 30 hectares (74 acres) farm there that his family had owned for nearly 600 years. He became well known as a farmer and agricultural engineer, and was a member of the Academy of Agriculture. In 1919 he attacked the agrarian collectivism that the Left was advocating, and the move towards large, mechanized farms that some technocrats favored. Both would turn peasants into an agrarian proletariat. He argued that for a peasant to be attached to the soil he had to own his plot of land.
In 1920 he wrote a tract in which he asserted that the family farm was the perfect basis for sound agriculture and a healthy nation. The state should consolidate land units that were too small and break up large units into farms suitable for one family. He also called for regional land societies. The state-subsidized societies would be organization by farmers associations. They would have the power to buy and restructure farmland as it became available and resell it on easy terms to peasant farmers or the sons of peasants. The proposal was reviewed favorably by the committee on agriculture of the Chamber of Deputies, but was not put to the vote.
Caziot joined the Crédit Foncier in 1924. He became a high official in the Credit Foncier, the government land bank that Napoleon III had established.
Caziot was named Minister of Agriculture and Supplies on 12 July 1940. He learned of his appointment from a neighbor, who had heard the news on the radio. Caziot hesitated to accept the unexpected offer of the Ministry of Agriculture, since he was deeply hostile to the Germans, but soon overcame his scruples. He insisted that a separate ministry take responsibility for the supply of food. Caziot was Minister of Agriculture and Supplies from 12 July 1940 to 6 September 1940, then Secretary of State for Agriculture and Supplies from 6 September 1940 to 13 December 1940 in the government of Marshal Philippe Pétain. In December 1940 the secretariat of supplies was detached from the ministry. Caziot was Minister and Secretary of State for Agriculture from 13 December 1940 to 18 April 1942 in the governments of Pétain and François Darlan. He was succeeded by Jacques Le Roy Ladurie, who was also a passionate agrarian. Le Roy Ladurie was younger, and more of a progressive corporatist.
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