It was a record-setting year for the growing season in Powell — 2015 had a string of 165 consecutive frost-free days and the harvests were bountiful.

The average growing season for Powell is typically 123 days with the last spring freeze occurring around May 18. But this year’s final spring freeze was on May 11 and temperatures did not dip below freezing until the night of Oct. 23-24.

The National Weather Service’s records only date back to 1981, but local long-term farmers attested that 2015 was a big year both in terms of production and time for crops to grow.

The 2015 harvest came earlier and in bigger quantities for sugar beets, beans, barley, alfalfa and just about everything that was put into the ground.

Big Horn Basin’s 17,000 acres of sugar beet fields yielded 28.9 tons per acre on average with sugar content at 17.99 percent for a grand total of 491,300 tons of very sweet sugar beets.

“That is the best sugar we’ve had in years here,” said Ric Rodriguez, a Powell farmer and vice-chairman of the Western Sugar Cooperative Board of Directors.

The sugar beet harvest was nearly two months long, starting on Sept. 2 and going through Nov. 6 for a total of 43 days spent digging up beets once days off were factored in.

Meanwhile, bean harvests came in about two weeks ahead of schedule this year, beginning around Aug. 24. Yields were higher than average for many Big Horn Basin bean farmers as well.

Barley growers also enjoyed a productive year with Big Horn Basin fields yielding about 130 bushels per acre.