Property, Plant and Equipment

12 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2012

Property, Plant and Equipment [Abstract]

A summary of property, plant and equipment as of August 31, 2012 and 2011 is as follows:



	2012		2011
	(Dollars in thousands)
Land and land improvements	$	145,831	$	125,170
Buildings	598,269		533,231
Machinery and equipment	3,786,488		3,481,046
Office and other	109,136		96,841
Construction in progress	405,755		257,940
	5,045,479		4,494,228
Less accumulated depreciation and amortization	2,259,155		2,074,014
	$	2,786,324	$	2,420,214

Depreciation expense for the years ended August 31, 2012, 2011 and 2010, was $199.8 million, $205.2 million and $187.5 million, respectively.

The Company is leasing certain of its wheat milling facilities and related equipment to Horizon Milling, LLC (Horizon Milling) under an operating lease agreement. The net book value of the leased milling assets at August 31, 2012 and 2011 was $49.6 million and $53.9 million, respectively, net of accumulated depreciation of $82.1 million and $74.7 million, respectively.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for long-lived, physical assets that are used in the normal conduct of business to produce goods and services and not intended for resale. Examples include land, buildings, machinery and equipment, and other types of furniture and equipment including, but not limited to, office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and computer equipment and software. This disclosure may include property plant and equipment accounting policies and methodology, a schedule of property, plant and equipment gross, additions, deletions, transfers and other changes, depreciation, depletion and amortization expense, net, accumulated depreciation, depletion and amortization expense and useful lives, income statement disclosures, assets held for sale and public utility disclosures.

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