Defoliating cotton has increased in difficulty over the years with a growing number of passes and increased rates often required to prepare the crop for picking, and the potential for defoliant drift is of growing concern. Taking into account potential environmental impacts there is a need to review current defoliation practices and develop new means of either defoliating a cotton crop or harvesting without the need to defoliate.

This project will explore novel approaches to defoliation and/or harvesting cotton to identify practical and innovative solutions with a reduced pesticide reliance and environmental footprint.