Certification is critical in organic markets because it gives buyers the confidence that a product meets the quality and process standards of organic production. The achievement of internationally recognized certification standards and procedures — mostly established by institutions in the more developed countries — can require institutional capacity and financial means which are often beyond the reach of many small scale farmers in the developing world. Alternative certification schemes offer possibilities for small scale producers to overcome such constraints. This paper reports a comparative analysis of costbenefit and the managerial learning needs required at the farm and farmers’ organization levels of different types of organic certification schemes in Asia and Latin America.