Adrian Pintea: “Without a team, you achieve nothing.”

Adrian Pintea, former Director General of the Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture (APIA) and currently Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, is one of the few people who can speak about Romanian agricultural administration with both direct experience and clear-eyed insight. Invited to the Meat.Milk. program hosted by Mihnea Vasiliu, Pintea offered a perspective on how an institution can function efficiently when it is built on work, discipline, and mutual trust.

Adrian Pintea rarely talks about himself, but when he does, he speaks with clarity.

“I’m from Cluj. I graduated from the Faculty of Animal Science in Cluj, and I didn’t want to stay in academia. I said I wanted to go into production.”

He worked in Bonțida, in an integrated complex “with a slaughterhouse and all the stages up to commercialization,” and later in the meat industry, where, as he recalls, “in six months I became general manager.” It was there that he learned his most important rule:

“When you work in production, you can’t say ‘tomorrow’. If you don’t milk the cow today, you lose everything.”

In 2006, he joined APIA, “not in a management position, but as an employee,” at a time when the agency was still being built.

“APIA is not an institution that works just because it has to. Reports go to the Commission — and they must be done today, because today means today, not the day after tomorrow.”

He recalls his years in Vâlcea with a mix of humor and discipline:

“There was a European audit, and we didn’t even have money to repaint. One evening, we all came in wearing tracksuits and organized the archives. The next morning, we were in suits — and everything went perfectly.”

“Without a team, you achieve nothing.”

That philosophy also defines his relationship with people in the field:

“If I go to any county in the country, the APIA director comes to meet me — we talk, we solve problems. They still call me today for advice. That’s the greatest satisfaction.”

The workload, however, remains immense.

“Almost four billion euros pass annually through your pen as general director.”

The pressure is constant, especially before payment campaigns.

“We were approaching October 16, and the IT system still wasn’t ready. I was 70% sure we wouldn’t make it. We spent nights with the team and the developers, and we launched it on time.”

It’s the kind of episode that explains why his long tenure in the position was no coincidence.

“APIA and AFIR are very well-accredited institutions. I hope they stay that way.”

He believes stability in the system is not a weakness, but a condition for performance.

“In 2016, I was the fifth general director in a single year. A director who stays for just one month doesn’t even have time to learn the hallways.”

For farmers, his message remains balanced and realistic:

“Farmers need mechanisms that help them grow — not handouts. Without European funds, we wouldn’t be anywhere today.”

No matter how difficult the road, he adds,

“A diamond takes time to polish — but eventually, you see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Adrian Pintea does not speak of himself as a leader, but as someone who understands the meaning of responsibility.

“My years at APIA were not only about agriculture — they were about people. About listening to them, keeping them close, and moving forward together. For me, it all comes down to something essential: do your job well — and let time show who you truly are.”