Related Party Transactions (Details Textual) (USD $)	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2013 Director gal Entity	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2007	Dec. 31, 2013 The Andersons Albion Ethanol LLC gal	Dec. 31, 2013 The Andersons Marathon Ethanol LLC gal	Dec. 31, 2009 The Andersons Marathon Ethanol LLC	Jan. 31, 2007 The Andersons Marathon Ethanol LLC	Jul. 31, 2013 Lux JV Hold Co [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Thompsons Limited		Jul. 31, 2013 Thompsons Limited	Jul. 31, 2013 Lansing Trade Group [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Capacity of production facility gallon per year	110,000,000				55,000,000	110,000,000
Percentage of company ownership interest (percentage)					53.00%	50.00%			100.00%	50.00%	[1]	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
Number of ethanol entities	3
Revenues recognized for sale of ethanol	613,700,000	683,100,000	678,800,000
Revenues recognized for sale of corn	719,500,000	676,300,000	706,600,000
Due from related parties	9,200,000	9,400,000
Receivables due from related parties due more than 30 days	3,100	3,800
Business Acquisition, Cost of Acquired Entity, Purchase Price									152,000,000			48,000,000	40,000,000
Face amount of debt												64,000,000
number of locations												12
Total distributions received from unconsolidated affiliates	17,800,000
Undistributed earnings of equity method investments	110,100,000
Percentage of new shares acquired from subsidiary (percentage)	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	25,700,000
Impact on total comprehensive income for overstatement of the estimated value of the investment in IANR	5,292,000	(1,978,000)	2,860,000
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	31,200,000
Investment and unpaid accrued dividends	5,500,000
Related party, Gross asset	8,900,000	3,200,000
Related party, Gross liability	$ 1,200,000	$ 300,000

[1] Thompsons Limited and related U.S. operating company held by joint ventures