Can farmland be taken by squatter’s rights?
Ask Stan Hoskins. For the past ten years the New York farmer has seen his cornfield shrink.
“Craziest story of my life,” says Hoskins, 79. “A neighbor has taken my land and used a garden, greenhouse, and trees to do it. He calls it adverse possession; I call it stealing.”
Pebble to Landside
Hoskins, 79, and his brother, Lynn, grow corn, soybeans, and wheat, along with hay production for a dairy operation in central New York’s Finger Lakes region, outside Auburn in Cayuga County.
One of their parcels is a 300-acre farm that was leased by the brothers in the 1970s up until 2009, when the landlord offered to sell the ground. They purchased the property.
Directly adjacent to the 300-acre farm sat a private residence—an older, but well-maintained house on a 2.5-acre lot. The house was fronted by a highway and surrounded on three sides by Hoskins’ newly-acquired farmland.
“The man we purchased the farm from had property line disputes with the owners of this house,” Hoskins describes. “When we went from being a tenant to being an owner, the property line dispute became ours. We thought basic reason and decency would solve things, but we were dead wrong. We walked into a wall of entitlement.”
“Originally, there was this small garden barely protruding into our farmland,” he contunues. “Anyone who has determination enough to have a garden, we thought, deserved our admiration, not condemnation. So, we ignored the garden. It all came back to bite us.”
Buyer beware. The garden began to grow physically in size.
Adverse Possession
Year over year, inch by foot, the garden expanded. And then a fence went up around the garden. And then a small greenhouse appeared beside the garden. And then the once tiny garden metastasized to a 60-foot intrusion into the field.
The final straw, according to Hoskins, occurred when the homeowner began planting maple trees beside the garden. “Yeah. He planted several maple trees on our farmland. The whole thing was a nightmare and it was plain as could be that he was going to keep going and pushing out into our farmland. We were nice for so long, but then felt we were being taken advantage of.”
In 2024, via an attorney, Hoskins sent a letter to the homeowner insisting on the removal of garden, greenhouse, and trees. Everything.
“His response was shocking,” Hoskins recalls. “The homeowner said the property was now his through adverse possession, and that we were not allowed on the property”
Welcome to squatters’ rights.
Deal or No Deal?
Adverse possession, colloquially referenced as squatters’ rights, is a doctrine allowing a trespasser to gain legal title to property, depending on a rat’s nest of criteria that vary from state to state.
Hoskins had the deed to the land; he annually paid the property taxes on the land; and surveyor stakes were visible. No matter. The homeowner wouldn’t budge from a squatters’ rights stance, propelling the case to court.
Anxious to counter the homeowner’s claim, Hoskins began a painfully slow and expensive legal process, impeded by the complexities and loopholes of adverse possession. Depositions, discovery, and determinations.
“A bunch of facts and details were needed,” Hoskins explains. “But how could we be certain what year they made the garden 5’ wider or 10’ longer? What year did they begin building the greenhouse? What year and month did the fence go up and when was it finished? You can go on Google Earth for some help, but it’s not the complete answer. It’s much more confusing than that.”
Faced with $75,000 in legal fees, and the assumption that the homeowner had spent an equal amount, Hoskins made an offer. He proposed removal of the maple trees, but allowed for the garden to continue at present size until either the owners die or the property is sold. A yearly payment of $250 would be required each year to prevent an adverse possession claim in the future.
Deal? No. The homeowner refused, opting for squatters’ rights. “What can I say,” Hoskins exclaims, “He just wants my land, and he wants more of it. Unbelievable”
Fancy Words
Hoskins’ case is set for court in late July 2026, along with the judge’s final decision.
We have had to pay tens of thousands of dollars to get farmland back that is ours. That doesn’t sound like America. Some people ask me, ‘Why didn’t you just go in there with an excavator two years ago and reclaim it all?’ That’s easy to say, but considering all the court mess already, I can’t imagine how much legal trouble it’d have been if we did that.”
“Beyond getting back our land, our goal is to keep some other farmers out of trouble. I’m also curious as to whether this a widespread problem in the agricultural community across the country.”
What is Hoskins’ advice to other landowners? “Don’t wait to address any kind of a property line issue that you don’t consider that important. The problem will only get worse.”
“Take it serious and don’t delay” he concludes, “because adverse possession is just a couple of fancy words for theft.”
For more from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:
Stealing the Farm: China Continues Raid of US Agriculture by Theft and Agroterror
Corn and Cocaine: Roger Reaves and the Most Incredible Farm Story Never Told
How the Deep State Tried, and Failed, to Crush an American Farmer
Game of Horns: Iowa Poacher’s Antler Addiction Leads to Historic Bust
Ghost Cattle: $650M Ponzi Rocks Livestock Industry, Money Still Missing
Georgia Watermelon Heist Explodes into Epic Night of Pandemonium
Sisters of Farm Fraud: How 4 Siblings Fleeced USDA for $10M
When Conservation Backfires: Landowner Defeats Feds in Mindboggling Private Property Case
Cold-Busted: Frozen Deer Decoy Nabs Poachers and Cocaine in Spectacular Sting
Sticky Fingers: USDA Fraudster Steals $200M in Stunning Scam
