Business Acquisition (Details Textual) (USD $)	12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012 Grain	Dec. 31, 2012 Green Plains Grain Company	Dec. 03, 2012 Green Plains Grain Company bu T	Dec. 31, 2012 Green Plains Grain Company Grain	Oct. 30, 2012 Mt Pulaski	May 01, 2012 Amaizing Energy Denison LLC bu gal	Jan. 31, 2012 Amaizing Energy Denison LLC	Jan. 31, 2012 New Eezy Gro Inc	Oct. 31, 2011 Immokalee Farmers Supply Inc
Business Acquisitions (Textual)
Year to date spending on acquisition of business			$ 220,300,000
Purchase price of business acquired				120,200,000		10,700,000
Payable to acquiree outstanding at year end				3,300,000
Combined grain storage capacity (bushels)				32,000,000
Nutrient storage (tons)				12,000
Goodwill, acquired	39,000,000				30,200,000
Goodwill	51,500,000	35,200,000		30,206,000		1,985,000
Purchase Price							77,400,000		16,777,000
Capacity of ethanol facility (gallons)							55,000,000
Capacity of grain terminal (bushels)							2,700,000
Ownership interest in consolidated entity (percentage)								85.00%	100.00%
Fair value of noncontrolling interest							6,100,000
Purchase price of business acquired									16,800,000	3,000,000
Goodwill									6,681,000
Payable for future performance of acquired company										$ 600,000