Market preparation requires around 50 percent of the total labor in a burley crop. Therefore, increasing efficiency in the market preparation system is of major importance. Progress towards efficiency maximization of market preparation systems has been made through modification of market preparation room locations and streamlining room set-ups, as well as through changes made to the bale boxes, bale sizes and the handling of auxiliary tasks. Most recently, research has focused on mechanical aids at market preparation to reduce labor use. An experiment was conducted during the 2008-2009 burley tobacco season to evaluate effectiveness of leaf removal, accuracy of grade separation, and labor use of a burley tobacco mechanical grader when compared with the traditional hand graded system. Three systems were assessed for efficiency on leaf removal, and accuracy of grade separation, using both high case and low case tobacco, based on stalk orientation to feed up the machine: 1) Stalks fed butt-end up or inverted, 2) Stalks fed tip-end up with hand pulled tip leaves, 3) Stalks fed tip-end up with intact tip leaves. Leaf loss using the stalk-inverted system was determined to be too costly when compare to the hand graded method; therefore this system was not included in the labor study. An economic evaluation of labor use and leaf loss, using a partial budgeting analysis, shows that the mechanical grader offers the potential to reduce labor costs and increase overall net profit. Results suggest that the system employing low case tobacco fed upright with tip leaves handpulled prior to feeding is the most cost effective method of using the machine. The loss of leaf integrity and mixing of grades compared to traditional hand grading is cause for concern and remains to be evaluated on the sale floor. (Reprinted with permission)