Notes Payable and Long-Term Debt - Schedule of short-term debt (Details) (USD $)	Aug. 31, 2013		Aug. 31, 2012
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Notes payable	$ 889,312,000		$ 803,622,000
Notes payable
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Notes payable, weighted average interest rate	2.00%	[1]	2.58%	[1]
CHS Capital notes payable
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Notes payable, weighted average interest rate	1.23%	[2]	1.68%	[2]
Notes payable	367,448,000	[2]	533,839,000	[2]
Notes Payable, Other Payables | Recourse loan commitments
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Notes payable	45,700,000
Short-term bank loans and notes payable current borrowing capacity	68,100,000
Notes Payable, Other Payables | Short-Term Notes Payable, Surplus Funds Program [Member]
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Notes payable	290,900,000
Revolving credit facility | Notes payable
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Notes payable	521,864,000	[1]	269,783,000	[1]
Revolving credit facility | Line of credit | Three-Year Revolving Facility [Member]
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Line of Credit Facility, Current Borrowing Capacity	250,000,000
Cofina Funding, LLC | Notes Payable, Other Payables | Short-term notes payable, note purchase agreements
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term bank loans and notes payable current borrowing capacity	$ 300,000,000

[1] ur primary committed line of credit is a $2.5 billion five-year revolving credit facility expiring in June 2018, with a syndication of domestic and international banks, with no amounts outstanding as of August 31, 2013. We have a committed revolving credit facility dedicated to NCRA in the amount of $15.0 million that expires in December 2014, with no amounts outstanding as of August 31, 2013. We also have a committed revolving credit facility dedicated to CHS Europe S.A. in the amount of $80.0 million that expires in September 2018, with no amounts outstanding as of August 31, 2013.Our wholly-owned subsidiaries, CHS Europe S.A. and CHS Agronegocio Industria e Comercio Ltda (CHS Agronegocio), have uncommitted lines of credit to finance their normal trading activities with $420.1 million outstanding as of August 31, 2013. These lines are collateralized by certain inventories and receivables. In addition, other international subsidiaries had lines of credit totaling $99.3 million outstanding as of August 31, 2013, of which $60.8 million was collateralized. We have two commercial paper programs totaling up to $125.0 million with two banks participating in the revolving credit facilities. Terms of our credit facilities allow a maximum usage of $200.0 million to pay principal under any commercial paper facility. On August 31, 2013 we had no commercial paper outstanding. Miscellaneous short-term notes payable totaled $2.5 million as of August 31, 2013.

[2] Cofina Funding, LLC (Cofina Funding), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CHS Capital, has available credit totaling $300.0 million as of August 31, 2013, under note purchase agreements with various purchasers, through the issuance of short-term notes payable. CHS Capital sells eligible commercial loans receivable it has originated to Cofina Funding, which are then pledged as collateral under the note purchase agreements. The notes payable issued by Cofina Funding bear interest at variable rates based on commercial paper. There were no borrowings by Cofina Funding utilizing the issuance of commercial paper under the note purchase agreements as of August 31, 2013. CHS Capital has available credit under master participation agreements with numerous counterparties. Borrowings under these agreements are accounted for as secured borrowings and bear interest at variable rates ranging from 1.96% to 2.69% as of August 31, 2013. As of August 31, 2013, the total funding commitment under these agreements was $223.8 million, of which $30.8 million was borrowed. CHS Capital sells loan commitments it has originated to ProPartners Financial (ProPartners) on a recourse basis. The total capacity for commitments under the ProPartners program is $300.0 million. The total outstanding commitments under the program totaled $68.1 million as of August 31, 2013, of which $45.7 million was borrowed under these commitments with an interest rate of 1.60%. CHS Capital borrows funds under short-term notes issued as part of a surplus funds program. Borrowings under this program are unsecured and bear interest at variable rates ranging from 0.80% to 1.10% as of August 31, 2013, and are due upon demand. Borrowings under these notes totaled $290.9 million as of August 31, 2013. In October 2013, we entered into a three-year $250.0 million committed revolving credit facility for CHS Agronegocio to provide financing for its working capital needs arising from its purchases and sales of grains, fertilizers and other agricultural products.