Editing Cotton (section)

==Harvesting==
[[File:Baumwoll-Erntemaschine.jpeg|thumb|Offloading freshly harvested cotton into a module builder in [[Texas]]; previously built modules can be seen in the background]]
[[File:Cotton picking in India.jpg|thumb|Cotton being picked by hand in [[India]], 2005]]

Most cotton in the United States, Europe and Australia is harvested mechanically, either by a [[cotton picker]], a machine that removes the cotton from the boll without damaging the cotton plant, or by a cotton stripper, which strips the entire boll off the plant. Cotton strippers are used in regions where it is too windy to grow picker varieties of cotton, and usually after application of a chemical [[defoliant]] or the natural defoliation that occurs after a freeze. Cotton is a perennial crop in the tropics, and without defoliation or freezing, the plant will continue to grow.

Cotton continues to be picked by hand in [[developing country|developing countries]]<ref>[[Craig Murray|Murray, Craig]] (2006). ''Murder in Samarkand&nbsp;– A British Ambassador's Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror''. {{ISBN|978-1-84596-194-7}}.</ref> and in [[Xinjiang]], China, allegedly by [[Xinjiang internment camps|forced labor]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172x2z33qb03tg China's 'tainted' cotton], BBC Newshour, Dec. 15, 2020: "A little further along the same road and workers are still in the fields, twisting and plucking the bolls of white fibre. It is hot, grueling, backbreaking work." See also {{cite news |last1=Ana Nicolaci da Costa |title=Xinjiang cotton sparks concern over 'forced labour' claims |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50312010 |agency=BBC |date=Nov 13, 2019}}, {{cite news |title=UK business 'must wake up' to China's Uighur cotton slaves |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55319797 |agency=BBC |date=Dec 16, 2020}}</ref> Xinjiang produces over 20% of the world's cotton.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Davidson |first1=Helen |title=Xinjiang: more than half a million forced to pick cotton, report suggests |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/15/xinjiang-china-more-than-half-a-million-forced-to-pick-cotton-report-finds |website=[[The Guardian]] |language=en |date=2020-12-15}}</ref>