Dumitru Seceleanu – Pioneer of the Modernization of Romanian Agriculture

Abstract

Dumitru Seceleanu comes from an old Transylvanian Romanian family from Săcele, Brașov county, the locality that also gave him his last name. He studied in Brașov, then, in 1877, he was a volunteer in the 6th Călărași Buzău Squadron. After the army, he got married and had six children, whom he unfortunately lost. Dumitru Seceleanu, being one of the biggest tenants of Bărăganu, strove to practice an integrated agriculture, applying irrigation and capitalizing on grain production by raising animals. He scientifically experimented with both the cultivation of new varieties of wheat and the breeding of new breeds of animals, always with efficiency in mind. He was a member of the Conservative Party, close to Alexandru Marghiloman, and the area of his entrepreneurial concerns directed him towards those specific to the bourgeoisie – oil business, the establishment of a bank and the spa resort of Amara. During the Great War of National Integration, as president of the Union of Agricultural Trade Unions, he was tasked by King Ferdinand with the mission of convincing the big owners of the necessity of expropriation in order to appropriate the peasants and ensure peace in the country. Thus, he became a legendary character in Bărăganului.