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.

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.

[9] Caziot believed in regionalism, seeing the traditional provinces as natural cultural and economic units, which he said were "drawn from the very entrails of the soil.

[6] Caziot wrote of the challenge he faced when he took office, The unoccupied zone produced chiefly wine, fruit and vegetables, lacking the basic foods such as grains, meat and milk products...

If we were to avoid imminent disaster it was necessary at all costs and with the greatest urgency to bring the workers back to their farms in order to harvest the crops and prepare for the next plantings.

[11] Caziot offered subsidies to peasants if they returned from the cities to work on unused land, provided loans on easy terms for modernization of rural houses, created a law on education to train more agronomists and to give rural children in basic education in agricultural technology, and implemented reforms to discourage the break-up of farms and to encourage the regrouping of scattered land holdings.

[15] His commission, headed by Count Hervé Budes de Guébriant, was mostly made up of leading conservative landowners and took nearly two years to develop the legislation that became effective on 16 December 1942.

[16] In December 1941 Vallat proposed in the State Council a motion to reduce participation of Jews in agriculture, limiting them to a single plot of land and banning them from positions of responsibility.

In November 1941 he protested against the release of Jews who had no agricultural training from foreign workers' camps to work on projects for the Mission for the Restoration of Farming.

[17] Caziot was tried by the High Court on 19 March 1947 for his participation in the Vichy government and sentenced to national degradation for life and loss of his property.