Boeing sells land, unit along Columbia River

SEATTLE - Boeing yesterday sold the lease rights to 93,000 acres of farmland along the Columbia River near Boardman, Ore., for an undisclosed sum.

The divestiture was part of the company's recent reassessment of real-estate holdings. The land was being leased from the state of Oregon and was managed by a subsidiary called Boeing Agri-Industrial, which also was sold.

The buyer of the business and the lease rights was R.D. Offutt of Fargo, N.D., which is one of a number of agricultural companies growing potatoes, wheat, corn and alfalfa on the land.

The land originally was acquired for possible use in space research and manufacturing, and Boeing will continue to lease 20 acres for use in antenna research.