Spatial agglomeration patterns and co-agglomeration rules of agribusiness: From the perspective of industrial chain

The industrial spatial layout of agribusiness profoundly influences the modernisation transformation of agriculture in the post-industrial era. This study employs hot spot analysis and the density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) algorithm to investigate the spatial agglomeration patterns of agribusiness, then utilises co-location quotient and Apriori data mining algorithm to explore the spatial co-agglomeration rules of agribusiness. The results show that: (1) The Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration forms a multi-centre, misaligned development pattern, along with a relatively specialised geographical division of labour at different stages of the agribusiness industrial chain, creating a hierarchical spatial structure of clusters. (2) The related industries within the agribusiness industrial chain present vertical integration paths with backward linkage characteristics, which strengthens the market dominance of the back-end industries. The distance between different industries within the agribusiness industrial chain constrains their spatial co-agglomeration. (3) Different cities have formed directional and heterogeneous rules of spatial co-agglomeration, leading to the emergence of four spatial co-agglomeration modes between agribusiness subdivision industries: the dual-engine mode driven by technology and market, the deeply integrated industrial chain mode, the market demand-driven mode, and the technology innovation-empowered mode.