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DIA Received Farm Subsidies For Years

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Jun 17, 2009 7:14 pm US/Mountain

DIA Received Farm Subsidies For Years

DENVER (CBS4) ― Denver International Airport isn't in the farming business, but the airport made thousands of dollars in an unexpected way -- off the land.

DIA collected farm subsidies for years by renting out its land. The subsidies are federal tax dollars that typically go to farms that grow food. In the process, the City of Denver has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Normally farm subsidies go to farmers, but the Independence Institute in Golden found out that DIA was receiving such subsidies and wondered why.

Linda Gorman with the Independence Institute said she thinks it's proper for the airport to receive the farm subsidies.

"Yes, if you're doing it legally, why not," Gorman said.

Gorman, however, is critical of the federal government for handing out the money in this manner.

"The city's just trying to manage its airport properly by using property that is sitting idle," Gorman said.

An airport spokesman acknowledged that between 1995 and 2003 the city received about $400,000 in farm subsidies. The farmers on DIA land received even more in subsidies from the federal government. Denver was eligible for the subsidy because it received crops from the farmers. Now the city gets just cash.

There are between 16,000 and 18,000 acres of DIA-owned farm land. Jim Kruse grows crops on a portion of DIA land leased from the city.

"You're really tied into the airport and there are no houses, so that makes it good for farming; no traffic," Kruse said.

The farm subsidies the city received went towards the cost of running DIA.

The airport stopped receiving the federal farm subsidies in 2004. However, it then received federal subsidies for grasslands erosion control.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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