An effective defoliation means cotton with less leaf and trash content, protects the integrity of fibre quality and keeps Australia’s reputation for high quality, low contaminant cotton intact. A poor defoliation creates issues at harvest – and they don’t stop there – these issues are passed on down the line and have negative effects for ginners, marketers and ultimately, our customers the mills and spinners. The Australian cotton industry has invested many resources to better understand the defoliation process and formulate guidelines for best practice.