Among EU countries, Italy is the largest producer of certified organic crops, especially in the areas of fresh and processed fruit and vegetable products, meat, and dairy products. Certified organic cropping, however, requires an incentive in order to pay for the increased production costs and the costs related to the full separation between the two, conventional and organic, production lines. This latter requirement is difficult to apply in large production units, and this accounts for most of the lag in certified organic tobacco development. For the last ten years, at Fattoria Autonoma Tabacchi and OPTA, we have been testing several technologies, in order to switch from full chemical to mixed chemical-biological strategies, to feed and protect tobacco, with the aim of producing an almost chemical-free tobacco crop. While some aspects have been successfully solved (nutrition), others (crop protection) still require efforts both at the research and farm operation levels. This presentation outlines what was done, and what is in progress, both concerning the experimental activities under way at OPTA, and the perspectives related to innovative products under development, which may find a niche of use on chemical-free tobacco.