Major marijuana plantations began to spring up beginning in the early 1980s. Earlier plantations were usually located in remote mountain areas where they were hard to spot and irrigation did not require drilling wells. Yields were relatively low, quality varied, and transportation was expensive.
The emergence of marijuana plantations in the early 1980s coincided with a shift from smaller, less-developed operations to larger, more established ones. These earlier plantations were typically located in remote areas, making them difficult to detect and requiring minimal irrigation well drilling. Yields were modest, with varying quality, and transportation was expensive.