A mixed-methods analysis for improving farmer participation in agri-environmental payments for ecosystem services in Vermont, USA

•We create an institutional design checklist to evaluate PES participation.•We classify ES from agricultural practices based on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.•Mixed-methods analysis elicits programs’ successes in meeting PES checkpoints.•High transaction costs are a major deterrent to program participation.•Tradeoffs occur between encouraging participation and achieving environmental goals. We examine whether using a payment for ecosystem services (PES) framework for agri-environmental programs could increase farmer participation through a mixed methods approach. We assess the institutional design of two U.S. agri-environmental programs, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), in the Lake Champlain Basin in the northeastern US, where managing eutrophication from phosphorus pollution remains a challenge. We synthesize a checklist of institutional markers previously derived from past PES literature and assess the extent to which these two programs increase participation and achieve environmental goals. Our analysis demonstrates EQIP and CREP meet several PES principles. However, transaction costs present a barrier towards participation with both programs. We suggest these costs can be lowered by greater technical assistance. We categorize EQIP program data by their ecosystem service provision using the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment classification. We find EQIP demonstrates cost-effective targeting and conditionality yet may have an institutional focus on large-scale structural practices focused on “end of pipe” prevention of nutrient runoff. The positive effect that PES institutional design criteria have on participation in agri-environmental incentive programs motivates further research on synergies and tradeoffs between farmer participation and environmental outcomes.