The systems approach developed by North Carolina, experiment station and USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) scientists provided effective bacterial wilt control for nearly a half-century. Yet sudden outbreaks of bacterial wilt in previously uninfested areas as well as a general increase in disease intensity across the Carolina's since the 1980's provides evidence of a breakdown in the best management system. The introduction of Ralstonia solanacearum , the causal organism, into previously uninfested land is an ecological disaster that will affect production of solanaceous crops in these affected areas across generations. Disease losses in some locations are disturbingly reminiscent of the losses in the earlier part of the last century where entire fields were lost to bacterial wilt and farm families financially ruined. This paper will review investigations on how our management system failed and how this might be prevented in the future. The rapid increase in disease occurred concurrently with drastic changes in the flue-cured tobacco support program. A rapid decline in the number of allotment holders and average support price changed patterns of production. Farmers mechanized production and expanded production acreage across counties to form economically viable production units. Farm machinery was moved from farm to farm-violating principals of pathogen quarantine. Evidence suggests that mechanical flower removal and a reliance on mechanical leaf harvesting has selected for populations of R. solanacearum that can be moved mechanically. The scientific response to these challenges will be discussed along with the formation of a revised management system.