Commitments and Contingencies

6 Months Ended

Feb. 28, 2015

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]

Commitments and Contingencies

Unconditional Purchase Obligations

Unconditional purchase obligations are commitments to transfer funds in the future for fixed or minimum amounts or quantities of goods or services at fixed or minimum prices. Our long-term unconditional purchase obligations primarily relate to pipeline and grain handling take-or-pay and through-put agreements, and are not recorded on our Consolidated Balance Sheets. Minimum future payments required under long-term unconditional purchase obligations as of February 28, 2015 are as follows:

	Payments Due by Period
	Total		Less than 1 Year		1 - 3 Years		3 - 5 Years		More than 5 Years
	(Dollars in thousands)
Long-term unconditional purchase obligations	$	1,051,453	$	61,285	$	170,393	$	152,840	$	666,935

The discounted, aggregate amount of the minimum required payments under long-term unconditional purchase obligations, based on current exchange rates at February 28, 2015 is $838.1 million.

Guarantees

We are a guarantor for lines of credit and performance obligations of related companies. As of February 28, 2015, our bank covenants allowed maximum guarantees of $1.0 billion, of which $117.6 million was outstanding. We have collateral for a portion of these contingent obligations. We have not recorded a liability related to the contingent obligations as we do not expect to pay out any cash related to them, and the fair values are considered immaterial. The underlying loans to the counterparties for which we provide guarantees are current as of February 28, 2015.