diff --git a/cutadapt.wdl b/cutadapt.wdl
index 6e6cd56aa2b028c9c18f08b20c60d162d1cf71f6..d4255c695c51e5cd6947b7955f8b871746ad8524 100644
--- a/cutadapt.wdl
+++ b/cutadapt.wdl
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ task cutadapt {
     String? stripSuffix
     String? prefix
     String? suffix
-    Int? minimumLength
+    Int? minimumLength = 1  # Necessary to prevent creation of empty reads
     Int? maximumLength
     Int? maxN
     Boolean? discardTrimmed