Image source: (LA Progressive)

BY: JENNIFER MECKLES

You're watching multisource world video news analysis from Newsy. 

Mexican forces discovered what could be the largest marijuana plantation in the country, ever.

Initially, there was praise for a job-well-done, but now the media is asking -- is it really the biggest ever?

First - to KOIN for the story --

“The Mexican army has found what it believes is the largest marijuana plantation in all of Mexico. A general said the plantation spans 300 acres and some of the plants are more than 8 feet tall. He said the marijuana was hidden by tomato plants." 

It grew in the Baja California peninsula -- about 200 miles south of San Diego. CNN gives a sense of proportions, saying the plantation is 168 times larger than the soccer field in Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium.

That’s pretty big -- say Mexican officials. But some journalists were reminded of a prior bust at El Bufalo in 1984. It stretched more than 1,300 acres and the drugs grown were valued between $3 and $8 billion.

A Mexico City based security expert tells the Wall Street Journal why Baja’s bust team might be stretching the truth a bit:

"There's no comparison between the two busts -- El Bufalo was far bigger... Mexico's army could be talking up the bust as a way to boost morale given the continuing violence surrounding Mexico's drug war." 

The Journal also reports El Bufalo plantation was comprised of 13 different fields and that the most recent find was bigger than any individual field found in the 1984 bust.

Either way, its a lot of pot.

The 420 Times reports:

“A quick calculation reveals the fact that this single grow could have yielded about 12 grams (almost half an ounce) to each of 10 million marijuana smokers in the U.S. The mind also boggles at the thought of walking through a forest of 8-foot plants in an area the size of Lower Manhattan." 

AFP reports the plantation could house 60 men, but only six suspects were arrested later at a military checkpoint. Tuscon’s KGUN explains what they lost, and what happens next:

The general says drug traffickers would have earned more than 150-million dollars by selling the crop. Instead, he says hundreds of soldiers will destroy the plants." 

Fox Latino reports -- Mexico produced roughly 19,000 tons of marijuana in 2009.

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Transcript by Newsy.