Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

Property, Plant and Equipment

Property, Plant and Equipment

The components of property, plant and equipment are as follows:

	December 31,
(in thousands)	2016		2015
Land	$	30,672	$	29,928
Land improvements and leasehold improvements	79,631		77,191
Buildings and storage facilities	322,856		303,482
Machinery and equipment	392,418		375,028
Construction in progress	12,784		32,871
	838,361		818,500
Less: accumulated depreciation	388,309		363,240
	$	450,052	$	455,260

Depreciation expense on property, plant and equipment amounted to $48.9 million, $46.4 million and $40.5 million for the years ended 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

In December 2016, the Company recorded charges totaling $6.0 million for impairment of property, plant and equipment in the Retail segment. This does not include $0.5 million of impairment charges related to software. The Company wrote down the value of these assets to the extent their carrying amounts exceeded fair value. The Company classified the significant assumptions used to determine the fair value of the impaired assets as Level 3 inputs in the fair value hierarchy.

In December 2016, the Company recorded charges totaling $2.3 million for impairment of property, plant and equipment in the Plant Nutrient segment due to the closing of a cob facility.

Rail Group Assets

The components of the Rail Group assets leased to others are as follows:

	December 31,
(in thousands)	2016		2015
Rail Group assets leased to others	$	431,571	$	434,051
Less: accumulated depreciation	104,376		95,940
	$	327,195	$	338,111

Depreciation expense on Rail Group assets leased to others amounted to $18.6 million, $17.6 million and $14.2 million for the years ended 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Sale of Assets

On May 2, 2016 the Company sold eight grain and agronomy locations in Iowa for $54.3 million  and recorded a nominal gain. The Andersons acquired these locations as part of its 2012 acquisition from Green Plains Grain Company. The Tennessee assets acquired during that same transaction will remain a part of the Company.