There are lots of world records regarding the pets we adore so much. For instance, the Longest Dog – a Great Dane that measured more than 7 feet from its hind legs to the nose. Tallest Dog? That was Zeus, another Great Dane that was 44 inches tall.

There is even a record for the heaviest dog. The English Mastiff named Zorba from the UK made the Guinness Book of World Records, thanks her massive size. She weighed more than 343 pounds and measured 8 feet 3 inches.

But there is a dog-related record that’s more interesting than all of these. In 2011, Hampshire Pet Products in Joplin, Missouri received an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for making the largest dog biscuit that weighed 617 lb. (279.87 kg). The biscuit was 19 ft. (5.79 m) long, 1.63 inches (0.04 m) deep, and 3.8 ft. (1.16 m) wide. In addition, it required ten bakers to bake it, and it was made to celebrate the firm’s 10th anniversary.

In case you did not notice, the dog biscuit weighed twice as much as poor Zorba (the heaviest dog.) So how was Hampshire Pet Products able to pull it off?

Two months after the deadly Joplin tornado that blew out the south wall of Hampshire’s processing facility, the company, famed for its cold extruded and baked pet treats, got serious about setting a new Guinness world record for the biggest dog biscuit.

But it was not that simple. To turn this goal into a reality, it took the firm three consecutive months of baking trials with strict Research and Development (R&D) times before they could start the real attempt. On the day of the event, the baking procedure alone took four hours.

The company even added a new, secret weapon to its product development arsenal: a test facility.

“We now have our own internal R&D test kitchen, so we can test new products in house with the customer’s help or without the customer’s help,” Curt Dudley, vice president of sales says. “The previous Guinness Record for a dog biscuit was held in the UK and it weighed less than 300 pounds. Our company’s goal was to set a new record with a dog biscuit that weighed more than 400 pounds.”

This focus on R&D is also how Hampshire Pet Products, in partnership with its clients, is able to launch over 60 new products each year. Using the SKALA system, the company collects data during the different points in the baking process, which will be used for R&D purposes to innovate and increase efficiency. The company’s skilled employees have the ability to develop new and custom features for their equipment, providing a competitive advantage by increasing the business’s flexibility and being able to test new items in the market.

Cacao trees are the sole source of beans used in the manufacturing of chocolate. However, with the rising temperatures, specifically in the tropical forests, the trees are facing the danger of extinction.

It is with this concern that Benson Hill and Mars Inc. have come together to offer innovative solutions to saving the cacao tree. Benson Hill is an agricultural technology company that is based in St Louis. On the other hand, Mars Inc. is the leading candy manufacturer globally and is a specialist in breeding cacao, having invested in it for more than 20 years.

The partnership is aimed at improving the climate resiliency and productivity of the cacao trees after researching their genome.

Benson Hill has come up with an innovative technology platform that has the ability to combine big data and machine learning with genome editing and biology so as to speed up the growth process. Moreover, the plants are made more resilient to diseases and climate change. The CEO of Benson Hill, Matt Crisp, stated that the greatest beneficiaries of this innovative technology are both the consumers and farmers.

With the tropical regions being limited to West Africa, South America and Asia, farmers of the cacao trees face challenges from the limited water supply as well as the ever increasing temperatures. However, with this project, farmers will be able to produce more produce from smaller portions of land.

Mars chocolates are in huge demand, especially during holidays such as Halloween, Easter and Valentine’s Day. Over 2.8 billion pounds are consumed every year. As a result, solutions must be developed to protect the cacao tree and ensure that this demand can be met.

Two lead battery microgrid systems have been installed at the EcoVillage at Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T). The EcoVillage has been named a ‘living laboratory’ due the availability of solar-powered homes that have been designed and constructed by S&T students, with the aim of capturing results from smart living research.

To celebrate the installation of the microgrids, Missouri S&T scheduled a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the EcoVillage last week. The microgrids were installed by the Missouri S&T Micro Grid Industrial Consortium with the main purpose of testing advancements in lead battery energy storage capacity. As such, the lead battery technologies hold a huge potential in renewable energy in the future. Stored electricity from the system will be supplied to two student-occupied houses, with the systems using charging algorithms from a cloud-based control system.

This research into the application of advanced lead batteries in stationary grid-tied applications will be novel, as most similar research has been conducted with lithium batteries. Lead batteries are well-known for being a reliable rechargeable energy source. As a result, the International Lead Association has been quick to praise the fact that most lead is now produced through a recycling process rather than through mining. Therefore, this rechargeable battery becomes an excellent energy source for circular economies.

The project has received positive comments and support from key players in the industry such as EnerSys, Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC) and Ameren. The project is estimated to be completed by 2021.

Missouri is set to fund some urban agriculture entrepreneurs and non-traditional farmers like wine producers, beekeepers as well as shrimp farmers. The program has been dubbed the Urban and Non-Traditional Agriculture Matching Grant Program. The main objective of this program is to stimulate job creation, innovation and R&D in Missouri’s agricultural sector. Christi Miller, the Missouri Grown Program Manager, has stated that they want to grow the agricultural industry and encourage more individuals to work there. The team is aware that a transformation of the agriculture sector requires developing new agribusiness concepts that have not previously been tested in the state, which is a key goal of the program. Miller says that the program’s activities are far from soybeans, cows or corn.

One winner from the previous year was a shrimp farm. Bee and honey farms have also won the grant. In addition, a flower business dubbed Urban Buds in St Louis has also been a beneficiary of this funding. The owner of the business stated that the grant assisted her to expand by buying an adjacent lot of vacant land. This shows that numerous businesses from various sectors in Missouri can be eligible for the grant.

Applications for grants can be accessed through the agriculture.mo.gov website.  These grants offer up to $7,500 and help innovative urban farmers cover expenses for their activities. Although the sum is not such huge, it is substantial in recognizing the efforts by the farmers.

A research facility is to be built at the University of Missouri Columbia Campus. The $220.8 million facility will be built by the Burns and McDonnell architecture and engineering company.

This new facility will be a platform for private researchers, government agencies and students in the medicine, engineering and veterinary science faculties to do research and development. The Vice Chancellor at Missouri University, Elizabeth Loboa, stated that the Translational Precision Medicine Complex (TPMC) will build upon the institution’s current strengths to bring outstanding minds together to develop novel biomedical solutions.

The TPMC’s location will be along Hospital Drive, Columbia, and is set to be opened in October 2021 with the groundbreaking being set to take place in April, 2019. The Director of Healthcare for Burns & McDonnell, Rich McKown, asserted that this project remains a top priority for the University of Missouri, as it sets the institution to be one of the top research centers in Missouri and possibly the United States at large. For Burns & McDonnell, it is an excellent opportunity to express their support for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) development.

External companies wanting to conduct research in Missouri will not be left out either. In addition to collaboration spaces, there will be an innovation space at the TPMC facility whose role is to attract outside players and bring researchers in.

Over a century ago, airplanes were the latest form of transportation to be invented. However, a strong contender exists for the 21st century named the Hyperloop. This new transportation innovation is close to becoming a reality in Missouri.

The company behind the project is Virgin Hyperloop One. The business has a working demonstration model in Nevada already, where they aim to establish a passenger-bearing loop. This is scheduled to be built by 2025. Black & Veatch, an international engineering firm, was contacted to complete a feasibility study of the project. The company selected Missouri for the piloting process due to its flat and straight topography. The state is also centrally located in the nation and is hence closer to the country’s main routes and manufacturing plants.

The proposed route in Missouri has the potential to service around 5 million residents from Kansas to St Louis, with a stop in Columbia. With the Hyperloop, residents can transverse 250 miles in 30 minutes. While in Columbia (home to the renowned Missouri University), accessing either Kansas or St Louis would take only 15 minutes.

The I-70 Hyperloop route is projected to have an initial cost of between $30 million to $40 million per mile of track constructed and $7-10 billion will be required to ensure the 250 mile project is completed. A point worth noting is that this cost estimate does not include security measures, portal transit hubs or even the Hyperloop technology itself. However, with the flexibility that this exciting new innovation brings, it will be worth the investment. Explosive economic development could result as it would make it possible for people to live miles away from their place of work and still be effectively connected, as well as increasing business efficiency for meetings and transferring products.

An 18-month project to build a Center for Soy Innovation in Jefferson is in progress.

The Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council chairman, John Kelley, noted that upon completion, the soy innovation center will put the organisation’s soybean research to work and communicate the impact that soybeans have on everyday life. The center will also bring workers working with and across Missouri’s soybean industry together, serving as a perfect hub for incubation, value-added agriculture, and business development.

The project will make use of soy-based building materials in the construction of the necessary facilities. This illustrates the diversity of the soy sector, with soy being used in the construction of items such as soy-based countertops, insulation, flooring and turf products. Directors from the Missouri Soybean Association and Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council have engaged The Architects Alliance to develop the new facility’s concept and design plans. They will also look for a suitable location for the center in Jefferson.

The soy innovation center will include a conference space and education center. This will provide an opportunity to connect youth, agricultural and community groups that might not have strong links to the soy industry.

Researchers from the University of Missouri have successfully come up with a breed of pigs that are resistant to the deadly porcine virus.

Transmissible Gastroenteritis is a virus that infects the intestines and has an almost 100 percent mortality rate in young pigs. A collaborative team from Kansas State University, Missouri University and Genus plc (an animal genetics company), created the genetically resistant pigs through gene editing.

Randall Prather, a professor at the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources stated that the ANPEP enzyme had been identified in previous research and could be a significant factor in allowing the virus to affect the pigs, as the enzyme is a potential receptor for the virus. The team’s litter of seven virus resistant pigs do not produce ANPEP and hence when exposed to the virus, they do not get sick. Prather and his colleagues achieved this by editing the ANPEP enzyme producing gene, creating a “null” gene that did not make the enzyme. Furthermore, the genetically modified pigs were healthy and developed normally.

The discovery is significant for the pork industry, as the virus is a major concern for US producers. In 2013, around seven million pigs were killed by an outbreak. The production of virus resistant pigs will help to ease the burden of finances, time and labor invested by farmers in pigs that may contract the virus. Preventing the pigs from getting sick will also improve the welfare of the animals. As the population grows and food becomes more scarce, innovative projects like these will be crucial for future food production.