Meeting the needs of industry and the consumer of tobacco products in the 21st century will necessitate continued research & development with farmer adoption of new technology. On the basis of 29 years of research in tobacco with emphasis on tobacco curing and mechanization and 9 years of providing administrative liaison to the overall NCSU tobacco research effort, the author will seek to identify priority research issues which should be addressed. Items to be discussed include production efficiency, leaf quality, consumer safety, biotechnology and international research cooperation. Achieving a high"quality"at competitive prices while introducing new technologies will represent the greatest challenge to future tobacco production.