Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

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)	2017		2016
Land	$	22,388	$	30,672
Land improvements and leasehold improvements	69,127		79,631
Buildings and storage facilities	284,820		322,856
Machinery and equipment	373,127		392,418
Construction in progress	7,502		12,784
	756,964		838,361
Less: accumulated depreciation	372,287		388,309
	$	384,677	$	450,052

Depreciation expense on property, plant and equipment amounted to $48.3 million, $48.9 million and $46.4 million for the years ended 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

In December 2017, the Company recorded charges totaling $10.9 million for impairment of property, plant and equipment in the Grain segment, of which $5.6 million relates to assets that are deemed held and used and $5.3 million related to assets that have been reclassed as assets held for sale at December 31, 2017. 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 $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 also 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)	2017		2016
Rail Group assets leased to others	$	531,391	$	431,571
Less: accumulated depreciation	107,948		104,376
	$	423,443	$	327,195

Depreciation expense on Rail Group assets leased to others amounted to $20.0 million, $18.6 million and $17.6 million for the years ended 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

Sale of Assets

During 2017, the Company sold three of its retail properties for $14.7 million and recorded a $8.6 million gain in Other income, net. Additionally, the Company recorded a $1.2 million gain in Other income, net for the sales of fixtures.

On March 31, 2017 the Company sold four farm center locations in Florida for $17.4 million and recorded a $4.7 million gain, net of transaction costs in Other income, net. The sale price included a working capital adjustment of $3.6 million.

On May 2, 2016 the Company sold eight grain and agronomy locations in Iowa for $54.3 million and recorded a nominal gain.