Abstract

This paper focused on the spatial and typological analysis of the economic activities of a major entrepreneurial sector of agricultural economy: pig farming. By applying the K-Mean Cluster analysis methodology, the “profile” of various pig farms was studied, regarding the geographical region, corporate structure, educational level of theirowners and the type of invested capital. The K-Mean Cluster analysis results indicated that there were three clusters of farms that verified its criteria. The farms in first cluster were mainly active in the regions of Western Thessaly and the area of Evia-Viotia. The majority was family farms, which had not yet invested in the modernisation of their fixed assets, and this led to a high cost of use of the said assets. The farms in second cluster were active in the regions of Central Thessaly,Attica and Viotia. They were shareholder enterprises, and attained the best financial results compared to the other clusters. These farms combined a high productivity rate with investments in a more rational exploitation of their fixed assets. The farms in third cluster were active in Eastern Thessaly, Etoloakarnania, Attica and Viotia, and were also shareholder enterprises. They presented a high rate of modernisation, but still required investments of a higher quality in order to improve their performance.

Key words: Pig farms, agricultural investments, financing, K-mean cluster analysis.