| Accounting Policies, by Policy (Policies) | 3 Months Ended |
| Apr. 30, 2019 |
| Accounting Policies [Abstract] | |
| Cash and Cash Equivalents, Policy [Policy Text Block] | Cash and Cash Equivalents Cash and cash equivalents includes bank
deposits as well as short-term, highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less. |
| Revenue [Policy Text Block] | Revenue Recognition For ethanol and by-products segment sales,
the Company recognizes sales of ethanol, distillers grains and non-food grade corn oil when obligations under the terms of the
respective contracts with customers are satisfied; this occurs with the transfer of control of products, generally upon shipment
from the ethanol plant or upon loading of the rail car used to transport the products. For refined coal segment sales, the Company
recognizes sales of refined coal when obligations under the term of the contract with its customer are satisfied; this occurs
when title and control of the product transfers to its customer, generally upon the coal leaving the refined coal plant. Refined
coal sales are recorded net of the cost of coal as the Company purchases the coal feedstock from the customer to which the processed
refined coal is sold. |
| Cost of Goods and Service [Policy Text Block] | Cost of Sales Cost of sales includes depreciation, costs
of raw materials, inbound freight charges, purchasing and receiving costs, inspection costs, other distribution expenses, warehousing
costs, plant management, certain compensations costs and general facility overhead charges. |
| Selling, General and Administrative Expenses, Policy [Policy Text Block] | Selling, General and Administrative
Expenses The Company includes non-production related
costs such as professional fees, selling charges and certain payroll in selling, general and administrative expenses. |
| Fair Value of Financial Instruments, Policy [Policy Text Block] | Financial Instruments Certain of the forward grain purchase and
ethanol, distillers grains and non-food grade corn oil sale contracts are accounted for under the “normal purchases and
normal sales” scope exemption of Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 815, “ Derivatives and Hedging The Company uses derivative financial instruments
(exchange-traded futures contracts) to manage a portion of the risk associated with changes in commodity prices, primarily related
to corn. The Company monitors and manages this exposure as part of its overall risk management policy. As such, the Company seeks
to reduce the potentially adverse effects that the volatility of these markets may have on its operating results. The Company
may take hedging positions in these commodities as one way to mitigate risk. While the Company attempts to link its hedging activities
to purchase and sales activities, there are situations in which these hedging activities can themselves result in losses. The
Company does not hold or issue derivative financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes. The changes in fair value
of these derivative financial instruments are recognized in current period earnings as the Company does not use hedge accounting. |
| Income Tax, Policy [Policy Text Block] | Income Taxes Historically, the Company recorded its interim
tax provision or benefit for income taxes including the three months ended April 30, 2018, by applying an estimate of the annual
effective tax rate for the full fiscal year to “ordinary” income or loss (pre-tax income or loss excluding unusual
or infrequently occurring discrete items) for the reporting period. The Company determined that since small changes in estimated
“ordinary” income would result in significant changes in the estimated annual effective tax rate, the historical method
would not provide a reliable estimate for the three months ended April 30, 2019. Thus, the Company used a discrete effective tax
rate method to calculate the provision or benefit for income taxes for the three months ended April 30, 2019. The Company provides for deferred tax liabilities
and assets for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing
assets and liabilities and their respective tax basis and operating loss and tax credit carryforwards. The Company provides for
a valuation allowance if, based on the weight of available evidence, it is more likely than not that some or all of the deferred
tax assets will not be realized. The Company paid no income taxes nor received refunds of income taxes during the three months
ended April 30, 2019 and 2018. As of April 30, 2019 and January 31, 2019,
total unrecognized tax benefits were approximately $8.9 million and approximately $8.8 million, respectively. Accrued penalties
and interest were approximately $0.5 million and approximately $0.4 million at April 30, 2019 and January 31, 2019, respectively.
If the Company were to prevail on all unrecognized tax benefits recorded, the provision for income taxes would be reduced by approximately
$8.4 million. In addition, the impact of penalties and interest would also benefit the effective tax rate. Interest and penalties
associated with unrecognized tax benefits are recorded within income tax expense. On a quarterly basis, the Company accrues for
the effects of open uncertain tax positions and the related potential penalties and interest. |
| Inventory, Policy [Policy Text Block] | Inventories Inventories are carried at the lower of
cost or market on a first-in, first-out basis. Inventory includes direct production costs and certain overhead costs such as depreciation,
property taxes and utilities associated with producing ethanol and related by-products and refined coal. Inventory is permanently
written down for instances when cost exceeds estimated net realizable value; such write-downs are based primarily upon commodity
prices as the market value of inventory is often dependent upon changes in commodity prices. At April 30, 2019, there was a permanent
write-down of inventory of approximately $0.2 million. There was no significant permanent write-down of inventory at January 31,
2019. Fluctuations in the write-down of inventory generally relate to the levels and composition of such inventory at a given point in time. The components of inventory
are as follows as of the dates presented (amounts in thousands):
April 30, January 31,
Ethanol and other finished goods $ 7,770 $ 5,767
Work in process 2,922 3,094
Grain and other raw materials 9,458 9,616
Total $ 20,150 $ 18,477 |
| Property, Plant and Equipment, Policy [Policy Text Block] | Property and Equipment Property and equipment is recorded at cost
or the fair value on the date of acquisition (for property and equipment acquired in a business combination). Depreciation is
computed using the straight-line method. Estimated useful lives are 5 to 40 years for buildings and improvements, and 2 to 20
years for fixtures and equipment. In accordance with ASC 360-10 “ Impairment
or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets The Company tests for
recoverability of an asset group by comparing its carrying amount to its estimated undiscounted future cash flows. If the carrying
amount exceeds its estimated undiscounted future cash flows, the Company recognizes an impairment charge for the amount by which
the asset group’s carrying amount exceeds its fair value, if any. |
| Investment, Policy [Policy Text Block] | Investments The method of accounting applied to long-term
investments, whether consolidated, equity or cost, involves an evaluation of the significant terms of each investment that explicitly
grant or suggest evidence of control or influence over the operations of the investee and also includes the identification of
any variable interests in which the Company is the primary beneficiary. The Company accounts for investments in a limited liability
company in which it has a less than 20% ownership interest using the equity method of accounting when the factors discussed in
ASC 323, “ Investments-Equity Method and Joint Ventures The Company periodically evaluates its investments
for impairment due to declines in market value considered to be other than temporary. Such impairment evaluations include general
economic and company-specific evaluations. If the Company determines that a decline in market value is other than temporary, then
a charge to earnings is recorded in the Consolidated Condensed Statements of Operations and a new cost basis in the investment
is established. Short-term investments are considered held
to maturity, and, therefore are carried at amortized historical cost. |
| Comprehensive Income, Policy [Policy Text Block] | Comprehensive Income The Company has no components of other comprehensive
income, and therefore, comprehensive income equals net income. |
| New Accounting Pronouncements, Policy [Policy Text Block] | Accounting Changes and Recently Issued Accounting Standards
Effective February 1, 2019, the Company
adopted the amended guidance in Accounting Standards Codification “ASC” Topic 842 “ Leases In August 2018, the Financial Accounting
Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2018-13. “ Changes to Disclosure
Requirements for Fair Value Measurements |
