Assessing the relationship between structural characteristics, profitability, and extra-financial performance in a French pig farming network

CONTEXT The French pig farming sector faces dual economic and societal pressures, driving a transformation in production models. To ensure long-term viability, farms must increasingly reconcile economic competitiveness with societal expectations, proxied in this study through audit-based extra-financial indicators (animal welfare and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) scores). OBJECTIVE This study explores the structural factors associated with this multidimensional performance within a selected cooperative network. METHODS Relying on a techno-economic database spanning from 1995 to 2024, we analyzed structural evolutions, modeled an experience curve, and assessed the cross-sectional associations between farm size and investment levels in 2024. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Longitudinal results confirm a structural trend toward concentration (+43% sows per farm on average) and increased capital intensity. Fitting a learning curve suggests that a doubling of cumulative production is associated with a 9% reduction in inflation-adjusted added costs, representing a composite effect of both organizational learning and sector-wide technological adoption. The comparative analysis of 204 farms in 2024 reveals that investment capacity is strongly correlated with overall performance. Farms in the top investment quintile are larger (+108%), more profitable (recalculated EBITDA/sow +78%), and score better on animal welfare (+10%) and CSR (+18%). SIGNIFICANCE Multivariate models confirm that investment level, rather than farm size alone, is a significant predictor of these outcomes. However, these results identify associations rather than causal mechanisms. Furthermore, the modest share of variance explained by the structural models (R² = 0.17 to 0.20) highlights that the vast majority of performance differences remains strongly associated with non-structural elements, notably the 'human factor' and individual managerial quality.