Commitments and Contingencies

9 Months Ended

May. 31, 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. As of May 31, 2015, minimum future payments required under long-term commitments that are noncancelable, and that third parties have used to secure financing for the facilities that will provide the contracted goods, 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	$	912,183	$	79,751	$	129,020	$	114,110	$	589,302

The discounted aggregate amount of the minimum required payments under long-term unconditional purchase obligations, based on current exchange rates at May 31, 2015 is $729.9 million.

Guarantees

We are a guarantor for lines of credit and performance obligations of related companies. As of May 31, 2015, our bank covenants allowed maximum guarantees of $1.0 billion, of which $94.6 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 were current as of May 31, 2015.