Commitments and Contingencies Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure

3 Months Ended

Apr. 30, 2018

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]

COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

The Company is involved as a party in lawsuits, claims, regulatory inquiries, or disputes arising in the normal course of its business, the potential costs and liability of which cannot be determined at this time.

The Company has insurance policies that provide coverage to various degrees for potential liabilities arising from legal proceedings.

The Company entered into a Gift Agreement (the Agreement) effective in January 2018 with the South Dakota State University Foundation, Inc. (the Foundation). The Agreement states that the Company will make a $5,000 gift to the Foundation, conditional on certain other actions. Management concluded that the contingencies related to this gift were substantially met during the three-month period ended April 30, 2018 and it is probable a liability has been incurred. The fair value of this contingency at April 30, 2018 was $4,503 (measured based on the present value of the expected future cash outflows) of which $1,394 was classified as "Accrued liabilities" and $3,109 was classified as "Other liabilities". The expense related to this liability is reported within “Selling, general, and administrative expenses”. This gift will be used by South Dakota State University (SDSU), located in Brookings, SD, for the establishment of a precision agriculture facility to support SDSU's Precision Agriculture degrees and curriculum.

In addition to commitments disclosed elsewhere in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements, the Company has other unconditional purchase obligations that arise in the normal course of business operations. The majority of these obligations are related to the purchase of raw material inventory for the Applied Technology and Engineered Films divisions.