The tobacco harvester is pulled by a tractor having an offset hydraulically operated hitch arrangement which permits the harvester to be selectively positioned to the side of the tractor. A tobacco receiving trailer is coupled to the harvester by a hydraulically operated coupling whereby the trailer can be shifted forwardly and rearwardly alongside the harvester to insure the even distribution of tobacco within the trailer as it is supplied via a conveyor which is laterally shiftable to compensate for the lateral shifting of the harvester relative to the trailer. The harvester is provided with a pair of spaced apart defoliators adapted to be located on opposite sides of a tobacco row. The defoliators are mounted in a sub-frame which is mounted for lateral movement relative to the main frame. The defoliators may be comprised of elongated spiral webs rotatable about their own axes or may be comprised of a pair of oscillating bars having a plurality of laterally extending flexible fingers thereon. A conveying system is provided for transporting the leaves from the vicinity of the defoliators to the aforementioned reciprocatable conveyor.
