Related Party Transactions (Details Textual) (USD $)	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012 Entity	Dec. 31, 2012 Director gal Entity	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2007	Dec. 31, 2012 The Andersons Albion Ethanol LLC gal	Dec. 31, 2012 The Andersons Marathon Ethanol LLC gal	Dec. 31, 2009 The Andersons Marathon Ethanol LLC	Jan. 31, 2007 The Andersons Marathon Ethanol LLC
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Capacity of production facility gallon per year		110,000,000				55,000,000	110,000,000
Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage						50.00%	50.00%
Equity method investment ownership percentage transferred								50.00%	50.00%
Noncontrolling interest, ownership percentage by noncontrolling owners					34.00%
Additional investment for minority interest ownership by noncontrolling owners								$ 1,100,000
Revenues recognized for sale of ethanol		683,100,000	678,800,000	482,600,000
Revenues recognized for sale of corn		676,300,000	706,600,000	445,600,000
Number of ethanol entities	3	3
Due from related parties	9,400,000	9,400,000	7,800,000
Receivables due from related parties due more than 30 days	3,800	3,800	3,000
Total distributions received from unconsolidated affiliates		24,400,000
Undistributed earnings of equity method investments	58,600,000	58,600,000
Percentage of new shares acquired from subsidiary (percentage)	100.00%	100.00%
Voting interest in IANR (percentage)		49.90%
Voting interest held by the common shareholders (percentage)		50.10%
Rate of dividends accrued annually (percentage)		14.00%
Estimated fair value of the Company's investment in IANR	17,200,000	17,200,000
Overstatement of the estimated value of the investment in IANR	4,100,000	4,100,000
Impact on total comprehensive income for overstatement of the estimated value of the investment in IANR		(1,978,000)	2,860,000	1,685,000
Number of board of directors (directors)		5
Directors from the Company (directors)		2
Directors from common shareholders (directors)		2
Independent director (directors)		1
Number of board of directors required to take key decision (directors)		4
Current maximum exposure to loss related to IANR	21,300,000	21,300,000
Investment and unpaid accrued dividends	4,100,000	4,100,000
Related party, Gross asset	3,200,000	3,200,000	600,000
Related party, Gross liability	$ 300,000	$ 300,000	$ 1,900,000