There are 9 lessons:

1: Nature & Scope of Oil Crops

• What are plant oils?
• Essential oils
• Plant oil crops & uses
• Vegetable oil uses
• Essential oil uses
• Economic value of oil crops
• What crops can be grown where?

 2: Oil Extraction

• Introduction
• Oil seed processing
• Mechanical processing
• Chemical processing
• Other processing methods
• Distillation
• Simple distillation
• Steam distillation
• Fractional distillation
• Vacuum distillation
• Molecular distillation
• Extractive distillation
• Membrane distillation

 3: Canola and Rapeseed

• Characteristics of canola
• World production
• Growing canola
• Using seed
• Soil types
• Soil preparation
• Sowing
• Growth stages
• Environmental stresses
• Nutrition
• Irrigation management
• Weeds
• Pest control
• Diseases
• Harvesting
• Storage
• Processing

4: Olive Oil

• Characteristics of olive oil
• World production
• Growing olives
• Using seedlings
• Soil types
• Soil preparation
• Planting
• Pruning
• Growing conditions
• Varieties
• Nutrition
• Irrigation management
• Weeds
• Pest control
• Diseases
• Organic production
• Harvesting
• Storage
• Processing

5: Other Edible Oils

• Growing conditions
• Organic matter
• Soil texture
• Subsoil PH
• Soil water available to plants
• Slope of the topography
• Natural soil drainage
• Maintaining good soil structure
• Growing edible oil crops
• Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus)
• Flax/linseed (Linum usitatissimum)
• Soybean/soya bean (Glycine max)
• Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea)

 6: Herbal and Pharmaceutical Oils

• Introduction
• Pros and cons of herbal medicine & nutraceuticals
• Essential oils
• General guidelines for growing herbs for essential oils
• Planting
• Agronomy
• Improved herbs and essential oils
• Growing select crops for cosmetic or pharmaceutical oils
• Avocado (persea americana)
• Mint (mentha arvensis)
• Tea tree (melaleuca alternifolia)
• Blackcurrant (ribes nigrum)
• Passionfruit (passiflora edulis)

7: Biofuel and Other Industrial Oils

• Biofuel production
• Vegetable oils and genetic modification
• Extraction of oils from plants
• GMO crops
• Oleic acid
• Oil palm trees
• Novel fatty acids
• Chemical and biotechnological transformations of basic industrial oils
• Key targets for future industrial oil crops
• Unusual fatty acids
• Industrial importance
• Growing select crops for biofuels and other industrial uses
• Poppy (papaver somniferum)
• Castor bean (ricinus communis)
• Camelina (camelina sativa)
• Crambe (crambe abyssinica)

 8: Issues, Risks, Optimising Success

• Successful farming
• Capital
• Profitability
• Risk management
• Succession
• Entrepreneurial skills of farmers
• Production management
• Developing a farming business plan
• Goals and mission
• Asset planning
• Land
• Irrigation water
• Livestock
• Farm management
• Labour and machinery
• Capital
• Soil testing
• Produce selection
• Integrated pest management
• Integrated weed management
• Grain storage

9: Product Development and Management

• Oilseed production and extraction yields
• Oil fatty acid composition and biodiesel
• Oil extraction and biodiesel processing
• On-farm oil seed processing

• Discuss the scope and nature of farming plants to produce oils or oil rich products.
• Explain how oils can be extracted from plants.
• Explain how to farm canola and rapeseed.
• Explain how to farm olives for oil production.
• Discuss agronomic farming and production of other edible oils for human and animal consumption.
• Discuss agronomic farming and production of a range of oils for cosmetic and medicinal use
• Discuss agronomic farming and production of plant oils for industrial and biofuel applications
• Analyse issues that impact success or failure of a plant oil production enterprise
• Formulate a plan for development and management of a plant oil production enterprise.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE A FARM SUCCESSFUL

Before undertaking any oil crop growing, it is important to consider what it takes to make a farm successful, sustainable, and profitable. Resources must be available and managed in an appropriate and sustainable way. These include:

• Human resources – quantity and quality of people involved including managers, owners, and labourers. Those involved must have appropriate knowledge, awareness, skill, health, and motivation. Human resources can also include having suitable and reliable contacts in terms of selling, processing, storing, and marketing oils and by-products. Also, consider specialist services such as agronomists, equipment suppliers, field officers, certification bodies, etc.
• Land resources – land can be degraded by unchecked monoculture on a broadacre, overuse of fertilisers, poor use of herbicides, erosion from lack of crop cover, and so forth. The quantity of land needed for a commercially viable crop may also be inhibiting. Soils may need a considerable amendment to make them suitable for specific crops. Topography, annual rainfall, or temperatures may be limiting. There may be a long withholding period following harvest.
• Physical resources – machinery, tools, fencing, water, storage, processing, even the site location can all impact the  success of a farm. Consider what machinery might you need to invest in to harvest a specific crop? Can it be purchased and delivered or collected? What sort of maintenance costs are involved? Can some tools or equipment be hired? Will you need to fence off paddocks and install safety gates or signage? Will you need onsite storage units or processing equipment?

SUCCESSFUL FARMING

Successful farming has two key criteria, being profitable and meeting the needs of the farmers. Whole farm planning is a comprehensive approach to farm decision-making, including crop and pasture agronomy, livestock husbandry and grazing management.

Traditionally, family farms owned the farm assets and provided the resources for operating the business including land, water, labour, management and working capital.

A farm business model includes:

• Business ownership and access to resources
• Operational management
• Capital funding for the business growth and operations
• Profitability by improving cost structures
• Risk management and risk sharing
• Business succession

Capital
Farms are capital intensive, requiring new capital for growth, development and working capital. Farming businesses are funded by a combination of equity and debt finance. The capital ratio is a personal choice, with long term averages being about 64% internal equity, 22% through bank financing and 14% through other forms of equity.

Internal equity includes the initial investment, appreciation of assets and retained profits. An important consideration is farm succession which results in the withdrawal of internal equity to fund the retiring member.

External equity can be complex to establish and manage, investors require a return on their investment which is often higher than debt finance.

Debt financing is dependent on loan security and loan-to-value ratios. It is cheaper than equity financing, however, risk events affecting profitability can result in asset forfeiture to the finance institution. Given the large capital outlay for broadacre farming, new entrants need to rely on succession or debt financing to enter.

Profitability
Productivity, controlling costs and availability of sufficient resources, drive farm profitability. One approach is to increase scale, resulting in an increased bargaining position for purchasing, as well as negotiating business relationships with sub-contractors. This is primarily achieved through increased land operations, through land purchasing, leasing and joint ventures.

An alternate approach is matching resources to the scale of operations, that is a level of resources that delivers the greatest economic efficiency.

Risk Management
Risk management is understanding the likelihood and consequences of numerous events that can impact farm profitability. A risk profile measures your approach to managing risk through avoidance, acceptance, and mitigation through insurance. Farm businesses face many risks from:

• Production risk, coping with weather events, hail, wind, frost, heat, drought, pests, weeds, and diseases.
• Technology risk, adoption of new practices.
• Market risk, varying commodity prices and product demand.
• Finance risk, loan repayment, machinery purchases and repairs, legal responsibilities.
• Government risk, record-keeping, reporting costs, restrictions on land usage.
• Personnel risk, workplace health and security issues, death, injury, illness and departure of key resources.

Succession
Succession involves the transfer of operational management and ownership of assets. Farm businesses recognise the importance of early succession planning, and mobilising key personal for farm business continuity.

Key issues include family factors like marriage, birth of a child, taking on major debt, significant financial loss, transfer of business responsibility, injury, illness or death of a family member.

Understanding the needs of key people in the farm business, and planning for their succession process, enables owners to exit the business in a timely manner. An appropriate business structure enables a pathway to transfer management and asset ownership.

The business structure sole trader, partnership, company, or family trusts can provide asset protection, effective management of income taxation, as well as provisions for family members not involved in farm operations.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Due to our years of experience and wide range of online courses, here are a list of our FAQs and Answers asked by Students.

General

Q. Do I need to buy text books?
A. No, you are not required to purchase expensive text books for any of our courses, since each module has been written by highly qualified tutors and writers, and our courses are updated on a regular basis, adding new information, methods and knowledge. You are supplied with all “essential” references. Extra books are always useful though, especially for special projects. Tutors will advise you what to buy if you decide you would like to have extra reading material, but it is not essential. Check out our eBookstore if you’re looking for a starting point.

Q. What sets the Academy apart from other institutions?
A.  A unique feature of our courses is that we combine knowledge of the subject matter with practical tasks (set tasks, found at the end of each lesson).  So you get to do practical components in each lesson. The benefits of this approach are immense: – your skills and knowledge are developed to a much higher level not normally found at other distance learning institutions.

Q. How do the practical exercises (set tasks) work?
A. The practical component of each lesson can be in the form of : Field Research, Networking and Analysis, Conducting Surveys, Growing, Collecting, Photographing and Processes.

Q. If I do a shorter course first, can I get credits towards a certificate or diploma later?
A. Yes. We will assess previous studies to give you appropriate credits.

Q. Can I pay by instalments?
A. Yes, you can view all available payment options here.

Q. Do I get a discount if two of us enrol together?
A. Yes. You may claim a 5% discount on fees if you both enrol in courses at the same time.

Q. Do I get a discount if I enrol in a second course?
A. Yes. You will be offered a 10% discount on subsequent courses you enrol for.

Q. Can I use more than one discount code when enrolling for my course?
A. No. You can only use one discount code chosen by yourself per course, when more than one is available.

Q. What happens if I have to stop studying for a while? (eg. become sick, go on holidays, have a baby)
A. It’s OK to take a break and start up your study at a later point in time. Just let us know.

Q. Is there an age limit?
A. There is no maximum age limit. We do however; have a minimum age limit of 18 years. Below that age parental consent would be required.

Q. Are there any hidden costs?
A. There are no hidden extras – the tuition fee covers all course material, unlimited tutor support, assignment marking/feedback and any text books where specified and exams. The only extras are for the public examinations fees for the ICB Bookkeeping course and the RHS (Royal Horticulture Society) exams.

Q. Are your courses up-to date?
A. Our courses are continually updated. The course content is rapidly updated and improved without the red tape and bureaucracy experienced at other educational institutions.

Q. Do you have a Cancellation policy?
A. We have a cancellation policy that is fair and equitable. For further details please click here.

Q. What Recognition do you have?
A. The Academy for Distance Learning has various forms of recognition:
These include TQUK (Training Qualifications UK) – an Ofqual Awarding Organisation – ADL is an approved TQUK Centre.
IARC – International Approval Registration Centre, approved member.  Accredited Training Provider for ICB (Institute of Certified Bookkeepers) and Approved Distance Learning Provider for the RHS (Royal Horticultural Society) and many more. Our graduates come from many parts of the world and have used our qualifications for successful employment and progression onto higher education. To view our full list  of recognition and memberships please click here,

Q. Will I have any opportunity to engage with other students?
A. We have a Student Community group based on facebook! If you don’t have a facebook account already, you could make one just for talking with fellow students on the group.

Q. Why should I enrol with the Academy for Distance Learning?
A. Here at the Academy our students are our priority – we treat every student as a unique individual. This philosophy allows us to nurture those who are “slow and steady” learners rather than letting them fall through the cracks, while catering for those who are in a hurry to complete.

Enrolment

Q. When can I enrol/start?
A. You may enrol and start at any time of the year – it’s all self- paced.

Q. Can I study from anywhere in the world?
A. Our courses are available to anyone, anywhere in the world from the comfort of your own home. The course content is relevant to any country, culture or economy.

Q. How long do I have to complete the course?
A. You complete the course at any time that is convenient for you. You’re under no pressure to finish by a certain deadline.

Q. Completing the course- how long will it take?
A. Completion of  modules varies from student to student.  Many factors come into play  such as work commitments and family life- there are always distractions.  Some students work quicker than others.  For a 100 hour module many students will take up to 3- 6 months,  others take less time and some are even longer. It’s all up to you.  There is no pressure to complete or deadline to finish. Naturally, longer courses will take more time.

Q. What learning formats are there?
A.  Your enrollment comes with the Online Classroom study option by default. For a small additional cost you also have the options of USB or Correspondence.
USB: Your course is sent to you on a USB stick, so that you can carry it in your pocket. Ideal for those with unreliable internet connections. This option is an additional £5/module

Correspondence:  You download the course content and then print your own copy to your requirements. You can then bind the lessons to suit your needs.

Assessments

Q. Assessment – how does it work?
A. For each 100 hour module you are assessed by assignments (at the end of each lesson) and a final one and a half hour exam (or you may elect to complete a project instead of sitting the exam) – the choice is yours – you sit for the exam in your own location, or you can visit us in Canterbury, England to sit the exam if want to.  Exam fees are included in the tuition fee you paid. You can read more about the examination process here. At the end of each lesson, there is an assignment. You submit it to the academy who then submits it to the tutor for marking, comments and feedback. Our policy is to have a grade for you within 5 to 7 days.

Q. If my assignment is not up to standard is there an opportunity to resubmit my work?
A. Yes – If you’re not happy with your work submitted you may re-submit the assignment again.

Q. How many assignments do I need to complete for each module?
A. At the end of each lesson, there is an assignment – so if a course has say, 10 lessons there would be 10 assignments. The number of lessons per module varies from module to module. See the course content from our website for further details.

Q. When do I have to hand in my first assignment?
A. There is no deadline for handing in the first assignment. Submit when you are ready. There are some students who hand in assignments within the first couple of weeks of enrolment – while there are others who submit their work 6 months later. It’s all at your own convenience to suit you. Everyone has different work and home commitments and we cater to these needs.

Q. I am having difficulty attending workshops/industry meetings, what can be done?
A. If your course requires attendance at workshops, conferences, or industry meetings; alternative arrangements can be made in your country; however, there may be an additional expense. We can appoint an appropriately qualified person anywhere to work through curriculum documentation supplied by us, to satisfy the requirements set down in a course.

Qualifications

Q. What qualification will I receive?
A. For individual modules, you would receive a Certificate (providing you complete all assignments and the exam). If you just want to complete the assignments only, then a Letter of Achievement would be awarded. For more details on qualifications awarded please click here.

Q. Is there a next level to progress to?
A. Yes – you can progress from one module to a combination of many modules and to higher qualifications i.e. Advanced Certificates, Diplomas and Higher Advanced Diplomas. Read more about course levels here.

Q. Can I customize my diploma/higher qualification?
A. Not all educational institution’s certificates /diplomas meet everyone’s needs. The opportunity to design your own diploma at the Academy (subject to our approval) is an added bonus, not found at other colleges. It’s a very popular option and widely used by many students. You quite simply choose the appropriate number of related modules needed to complete the qualification and submit them to us for approval as a custom diploma.

Q.  What do I get when I complete the course? Will I receive a transcript?
A. At the completion of a 100-hour Certificate course and providing all assignments and exam have been completed, you will receive a Certificate and Transcript.  The Transcript will list your GPA.  Each 100-hour module is worth 3 credit hours.

Exams

Q. Do I have to sit for an exam?
A. Exams are optional but need to be undertaken in order to receive the Certificate or higher qualification.  Exams are one and a half hours long. You appoint an adjudicator (subject to our approval) to supervise the exam. You sit for the exam in your own location. Its that simple.

Q. I don’t cope well with exams – what can I do?
A. If you feel you don’t cope well with exams you may elect to undertake a Project (set by the tutor) instead of sitting the exam.  Many students prefer this option as they find researching the material for the project sharpens their research skills.

Q. If I don’t sit for the Exam do I still get a qualification?
A. If you don’t sit for the exam but complete the project alternative, you will still receive your endorsed qualification. If you don’t sit for an exam or complete a final project, providing you have completed all the assignments you will be awarded a Certificate of Achievement.

Q. Do I have to sit for the exam at the Academy? 
A. No – whilst you are more than welcome to come to our location in Canterbury, U.K. and sit the exam in our classroom; the more popular option is to sit for the exam in your own location. You appoint an adjudicator to supervise the exam. Click here for more information on that process.

Q. Are there any exam fees?
A. There are no exam fees.  However, for some public examinations such as the ICB (Bookkeeping) and RHS courses exam fees do apply.  See course content for details.

Tutors

Q. Our tutors – who are they?
A.  We only employ tutors who have are currently active in their industry with at least 5 years of real-world experience.  Not only are they highly qualified but also experienced, knowledgeable, and professional- experts in their chosen fields from all parts of the world.

Q. Can I contact my tutor at any time?
A. Yes- you have unlimited access to tutors. We strongly encourage students to develop a dialogue with their Tutor. This is why we encourage students to submit their first assignment fairly quickly at the beginning of the course.
Every Academy student is assigned a tutor who supports you throughout your course and beyond. Your tutor is there to guide and facilitate your learning and provides as much or as little individual contact as you would like. When you submit your coursework the tutor will give you feedback that helps you develop your ideas and provides motivation. For those who do like to have interaction with other students, the ADL discussion forum connects you to students from all over the world.

Q. How do I contact my tutor?
A. You have direct contact with your tutor by email through the Online Classroom. Alternatively, you can write, fax, email, or phone the academy. Leave a message if your tutor isn’t available and they will phone, write or fax back; whatever suits you.

Q. If I don’t agree with / like my tutor can I request a change?
A. Yes – we try to accommodate and meet student’s needs and a change of tutor may be arranged.

Q. If I don’t understand a question or a lesson may I contact the tutor?
A. You may contact a tutor as often as you like. There is no additional charge or restriction on this service.  Contact can be made via the Student Zone, email, or by phone.

Q. Practical work – How is this done?
A. To find out more about this part of the course please visit the section on How Our Courses Work here.