Segment Information (Narrative) (Details) - segment	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016
Segment Information
Number of Reportable Segments	4
GrainCorp [Member] [Member]
Segment Information
Investment, Ownership Percentage	19.80%
Wilmar International Limited [Member]
Segment Information
Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage	24.90%	23.20%
Industries Center [Member]
Segment Information
Noncontrolling Interest, Ownership Percentage by Parent	51.00%
Biopolis [Member] [Member]
Segment Information
Noncontrolling Interest, Ownership Percentage by Parent	89.00%

The percentage of ownership in an investment not accounted for as equity.

No definition available.

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Namespace Prefix:	adm_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The percentage of ownership of common stock or equity participation in the investee accounted for under the equity method of accounting.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 323
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=66011266&loc=d3e33918-111571

+ Details

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Period Type:	instant

- Definition

The parent entity's interest in net assets of the subsidiary, expressed as a percentage.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Number of segments reported by the entity. A reportable segment is a component of an entity for which there is an accounting requirement to report separate financial information on that component in the entity's financial statements.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Details

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- Details

Name:	us-gaap_ScheduleOfEquityMethodInvestmentEquityMethodInvesteeNameAxis=adm_WilmarInternationalLimitedMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
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- Details

Name:	us-gaap_BusinessAcquisitionAxis=adm_IndustriesCenterMember
Namespace Prefix:
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- Details

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