Conflict over cornfield continues to grow

Howell said the more pressing issue is using town manpower to maintain the field, instead of letting Hosking do the job while paying rent.

By Gittel Evangelist

recordonline.com

By Gittel Evangelist

Posted Jun. 6, 2014 at 10:06 PM
Updated Jun 6, 2014 at 10:41 PM

By Gittel Evangelist

Posted Jun. 6, 2014 at 10:06 PM
Updated Jun 6, 2014 at 10:41 PM

» Social News

MOUNT HOPE — A dairy farmer's cows have been asking, “Got corn?”

Mike Hosking, owner of Hosking Farms, raises registered Holsteins for breeding and milking on 230 acres he owns and another 1,100 acres he leases from Orange County, mainly in Mount Hope.

For 30 years, he leased another 25 acres of the former Bilinski Farm in town to grow the corn he feeds his cattle.

Then, in 2010, the town bought 88 acres of the Bilinski farmland and designated 54 of them for a new Cornell Cooperative Extension Education Center and 4-H Park.

Shortly afterward, Hosking said, he was notified his five-year lease, which still had four years left on it, was being terminated.

This was despite the fact the entire 4-H project was planned for the south side of Finchville Turnpike, immediately adjacent to the new Otisville Elementary School, while the field Hosking leased is on the north side of the road.

He has since been growing his corn elsewhere on his property.

On Wednesday, he filed an application with the town to renew his lease agreement on the former Bilinski property.

“It doesn't really matter to me in terms of where I grow the corn. I've got more than enough land,” said Hosking, 63, who's third-generation on his family farm.

“But I ride by that field every day, and it bothers me to see it looking like that,” he said of the 3- to 4-foot weeds that now grow where his crops once stood.

In ending his lease, Hosking said, the town effectively turned an asset into a liability.

“I don't understand why the town Highway Department should be out there brush-hogging and doing maintenance on that field, when they should be working on the roads instead,” he said.

“They're spending money to do what I would be doing – and I would be paying them. To me, it's just foolishness.”

He said he previously paid $600 a year to lease the property.

Cornell Cooperative Extension Orange County's executive director, Lucy Joyce, said its lease allows it to use town property across from the planned Education Center and 4-H Park as a staging area for construction, which will begin this month.

“Since we will not be using that field for construction equipment or materials, we are pleased that a farmer is interested in using the property for growing crops,” Joyce said.

Hosking suspects his differences with the town's previous administration, which secured the land purchase, played a role in his eviction.

Another potential issue is the concern raised by Jerry Cook, who spoke at Monday night's board meeting about Hosking's use of Roundup to control weeds in the cornfield. Cook, who said he worried about chemicals leaching into the nearby proposed dog park during heavy rains, has drafted a letter to the Town Board.

Councilman Matt Howell, who is one of the Town Board's 4-H liaisons, as well as a farmer, said Tuesday he was not concerned with the weed-killer.

“From my perspective, there's no issue with Roundup. I spray it on my sidewalks at home,” he said.

Howell said the more pressing issue is using town manpower to maintain the field, instead of letting Hosking do the job while paying rent.

"It would be a substantial savings for the summer budget," Howell said. "It would be a savings on payroll, machinery and wear and tear on town equipment."

Hosking said the "window is closing," noting he's only got another 10 days or so to get his corn in the ground in time for the September harvest. After next week, he's on to cutting hay.

"For as long as I can remember, there's always been corn in that field. They only ever grew corn," he said. "Now, they're growing weeds."