Notes Payable and Long-Term Debt - Schedule of short-term debt (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands		12 Months Ended
		Aug. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Sep. 30, 2015	Aug. 31, 2015
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Notes payable		$ 2,731,479			$ 1,165,378
Notes Payable, Other Payables [Member]
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Notes payable, weighted average interest rate	[1]	1.72%			2.33%
CHS Capital notes payable
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Notes payable, weighted average interest rate	[2]	1.31%			1.05%
CHS Capital notes payable | CHS Capital notes payable
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Notes payable	[2]	$ 928,305			$ 351,661
Notes Payable, Other Payables [Member] | Recourse loan commitments
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Notes payable		122,300
Short-term bank loans and notes payable current borrowing capacity		183,500
Notes Payable, Other Payables [Member] | Short-Term Notes Payable, Surplus Funds Program [Member]
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Notes payable		231,200
Revolving credit facility | Line of credit | Five-year revolving facilities
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Line of Credit Facility, Current Borrowing Capacity				$ 3,000,000
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		700,000
Revolving credit facility | Line of credit | Bilateral, uncommitted revolving facilities [Member]
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Line of Credit Facility, Current Borrowing Capacity		600,000	$ 1,300,000
Short-term Debt, Fair Value		300,000
Revolving credit facility | Line of credit | Three-Year Revolving Facility [Member]
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Line of Credit Facility, Current Borrowing Capacity		325,000
Line of Credit Facility, Fair Value of Amount Outstanding		260,000
Revolving credit facility | Notes Payable, Other Payables [Member] | Notes Payable, Other Payables [Member]
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Notes payable	[1]	$ 1,803,174			$ 813,717
Cofina Funding, LLC | Notes Payable, Other Payables [Member]
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Notes payable, weighted average interest rate	[1]	1.40%
Cofina Funding, LLC | Notes Payable, Other Payables [Member] | Short-term notes payable, note purchase agreements
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Short-term bank loans and notes payable current borrowing capacity		$ 850,000
Line of credit facility, amount outstanding		$ 550,000
Minimum | Revolving credit facility | Line of credit | Five-year revolving facilities
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate		0.00%
Minimum | Revolving credit facility | Line of credit | Bilateral, uncommitted revolving facilities [Member]
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate		0.25%
Maximum | Revolving credit facility | Line of credit | Five-year revolving facilities
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate		1.45%
Maximum | Revolving credit facility | Line of credit | Bilateral, uncommitted revolving facilities [Member]
Short-term Debt [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate		1.00%

[1] our primary committed line of credit which is a $3.0 billion five-year, unsecured revolving credit facility with a syndication of domestic and international banks that expires in September 2020. The outstanding balance on this facility was $700.0 million as of August 31, 2016. There was no outstanding balance on the predecessor facility as of August 31, 2015. Amounts borrowed under this facility primarily bear interest at base rates (or London Interbank Offered Rates ("LIBOR")) plus applicable margins ranging from 0.00% to 1.45%.In December 2015, we entered into three bilateral, uncommitted revolving credit facilities with an aggregate capacity of $1.3 billion. As of August 31, 2016, the aggregate capacity is $600 million. Amounts borrowed under these short-term lines are used to fund our working capital and bear interest at base rates (or London Interbank Offered Rates ("LIBOR")) plus applicable margins ranging from 0.25% to 1.00%. As of August 31, 2016, outstanding borrowings under these facilities were $300.0 million. In addition to our primary revolving line of credit, we have a three-year $325.0 million committed revolving pre-export credit facility for CHS Agronegocio Industria e Comercio Ltda ("CHS Agronegocio"), our wholly-owned subsidiary, to provide financing for its working capital needs arising from its purchases and sales of grains, fertilizers and other agricultural products which expires in April 2019. As of August 31, 2016, the outstanding balance under the facility was $260.0 million.As of August 31, 2016, our wholly-owned subsidiaries, CHS Europe S.a.r.l and CHS Agronegocio, had uncommitted lines of credit with $290.1 million outstanding. In addition, our other international subsidiaries had lines of credit with a total of $252.1 million outstanding as of August 31, 2016, of which $27.7 million was collateralized. We have two commercial paper programs with an aggregate capacity of $125.0 million, with two banks participating in our revolving credit facilities. Terms of our credit facilities do not allow them to be used to pay principal under a commercial paper facility. On August 31, 2016 we had no commercial paper outstanding. Miscellaneous short-term notes payable totaled $1.0 million as of August 31, 2016.

[2] Cofina Funding, LLC ("Cofina Funding"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CHS Capital, has available credit totaling $850.0 million as of August 31, 2016, under note purchase agreements with various purchasers and through the issuance of short-term notes payable. CHS Capital and CHS Inc. both sell eligible receivables they have 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 with a weighted average rate of 1.40% as of August 31, 2016. There were $550.0 million in borrowings by Cofina Funding utilizing the issuance of commercial paper under the note purchase agreements as of August 31, 2016. 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 1.90% to 2.50% as of August 31, 2016. As of August 31, 2016, the total funding commitment under these agreements was $116.9 million, of which $24.9 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 $265.0 million. The total outstanding commitments under the program totaled $183.5 million as of August 31, 2016, of which $122.3 million was borrowed under these commitments with an interest rate of 1.67%. 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 0.10% to 0.90% as of August 31, 2016, and are due upon demand. Borrowings under these notes totaled $231.2 million as of August 31, 2016.