Cobb invests 12% of its annual sales revenue in the R&D and pedigree program as part of the company's long term strategy of using innovation & technology to provide product performance gain to customers;.

The company's R&D and pedigree breeding program has state-of-the-art facilities spread over separate complexes in Missouri, Oklahoma, Kentucky and an international location in the Netherlands. There are 4 large pedigree farms ranging in size from 600 to 3500 acres, 2 testing farms including 1 import facility, 4 pedigree hatcheries and a research hatchery representing a significant commitment to future effort in developing improvements to the company's breeding portfolio and worldwide business. As part of the growth a modern, multi-million dollar dedicated feed mill was commissioned to supply all pedigree, great grandparent and grandparent requirements in the Southwestern region of the US. The mill is designed to meet the most up to date quality and safety standards for protection against pathogen challenge such as Salmonella.

A cornerstone of the company's success is the adherence to strict internal bio-security and safety standards throughout all operations. Facilities are designed to accommodate the highest bio-security and safety standards to ensure consistent delivery of quality product to customers globally. Bio-security, safety know-how and experience gained internally is often passed onto customers as an added benefit of dealing with Cobb as a supplier of breeding stock.

Cobb has continued to invest and sponsor over 150 projects with universities, institutes and independent research organizations in the past 10 years to ensure the world's leading expertise has contributed to the progress of company R&D programs.

The management team consists of 13 geneticists who have a combined experience and responsibility for delivering improvements required to maintain industry leadership in the breeding industry. They have continued to improve the Cobb 500, the world's most successful broiler and maintain its position at the forefront of the industry. The management group is responsible for the direction of a team of 450 people in running the R&D and pedigree program to ensure a future pipeline of successful products for the global market.

As a leader in poultry breeding and genetic improvement, Cobb has invested in the advances of DNA technology or genomics to enable its team of geneticists to identify and select for the presence of individual genes and tie these to specific trait improvements in breeding stock. This allows genetic progress to proceed more rapidly and accurately and may pave the way for benefits such as increased natural resistance to disease or meat quality improvements.

Cobb's investment in genomics is for longer term improvements in breeding and mirrors its overall commitment to research and to the poultry industry.