The high labor requirements of burley tobacco production have prompted considerable mechanization interest and efforts over the years. Significant progress has been made in reducing the amount of manual labor required. Major labor reductions of the 1972–2007 era for several practices having widespread adoption and the economic effects those reductions had for burley producers are analyzed in this article, the first in a two-part series. Major mechanization developments of the era considered in the analysis include the adoption of small-bale packaging, the transition from plant beds to float-bed systems, the use of outside field-curing structures, the use of stripping wheels and similar stripping aids, and the adoption of big-bale packaging. Total labor requirements at the beginning of the era were reported at more than 300 worker-hr/acre, but were reduced a total of 157 worker-hr/acre by 2007, or more than 50%, considering the widely adopted methods. Most of the adopted practices resulted in net savings to the producer at the time, considering both labor savings and additional investment requirements. Options for potential further labor reduction and cost benefits are analyzed in the second article in this series, Reduction in Labor Requirements for Burley Tobacco Production, Part 2: Potential.

There have been numerous widely adopted mechanization developments and practices since the 1970s that reduced the manual labor requirements for producing burley tobacco by approximately half for efficient producers. A number of other labor-reducing developments that occurred during that time period were proven effective, but were not widely adopted, for various reasons. These developments, including a new 2-tier-height economy barn design, mechanical topping, the cable hoist housing system, no-till transplanting, and several different mechanized harvesting systems, were analyzed based on cited references for the amount that labor requirements were reduced and the costs and savings associated with the development. Developments such as the economy 2-tier barns, mechanical topping, and no-till transplanting resulted in not only labor savings but also in moderate cost benefits to the producer. Economy barns and no-till transplanting have been adopted to limited extent, but mechanical topping has not been adopted at all. Developments such as cable hoist housing and the various notching-type mechanical harvesting systems that resulted in some substantial labor savings were initially adopted by a number of growers, but their use has declined significantly for various reasons. These developments slightly reduced the cost of production if the savings of not having to build a new barn was taken into account, but increased the costs if it was not. A fully automated harvesting system reduced harvest labor requirements by about 80%, but resulted in greatly increased costs of production, nearly $0.70/pound/year. Even though the automated harvester greatly reduced labor requirements, overall burley tobacco labor requirements are still quite high, in large part because of high labor requirements for stripping. Mechanical stripping innovations continue to be pursued.