b'And the Award Goes toHow do flower and vegetable awards influence industry growth? Shanyn SilinskiPEOPLE WATCH MOVIES,choose restaurants and makefinding time for new hobbies like gardening. The benefits to other decisions based on criteria that can be influenced by thephysical and mental health as well as pride in growing gorgeous idea of awards being a signal of trust, reliability and social proof.flowers and tasty vegetables are some motivating factors. The Awards can encourage behaviors for consumers, inspire trustgarden joy of the past couple of years has stabilized but is still in business and products as well as set the standard for futuregoing strong with almost all surveyed with many increasing their products. The premise of trust in an award is simplethe peoplegarden time. And, though the pandemic caused supply chain behind it are also trustworthy, and their methodology for choos- issues through a seed boom with an increased amount of hobby ing winners is fair, current and aligns with their audiences goals.gardeners, those persistent and frustrating supply chain chal-Awards can be influenced by many things like trends, celeb- lenges became opportunities for breeders, giving them space to rity personalities and world events. People look to reputableoffer alternatives to popular seeds which were unavailable. organizations to research, judge and award based on trustedOut of stock? Thats okay, why dont you try something criteria.new? was the response of the managing partner at America Consumers are believers in word of mouth, trusted expertsMeadows, Mike Lizotte. It gives people an opportunity to try and proven industry standards for quality. This is very true forsomething new and explore new varieties.flower and vegetable varieties; many experts will be meeting thisA lifetime gardener who specializes in wildflowers, and an month at the American Seed Trade Associations (ASTA) Floweravid learner himself, Lizotte has noticed some interesting trends and Vegetable Show. Amongst the networking and speakers,in the past couple of years. He is hearing from more customers awards will be handed out. who are growing for specific purposes whether it is due to their Recent surveys done by Axiom Marketing show that a signifi- climate, growing zone, environmental concerns such as drought, cant percentage of consumers, especially Gen Z and Gen Y, willor a desire to support wild populations of birds and pollinators. be maintaining or increasing their resources allocated to vegeta- He has found consumers are more in tune with their environ-ble and flower gardening.ment, are following the news, and want to do good things for Those interested in growing from seeds have increased, withtheir health and their world.the demographic showing strength amongst younger male gar- Awards are an important part of that as it encourages con-deners, notes Mike Reiber, CEO of Axiom Marketing. sumers to confidently try new things which are industry tested During the pandemic, people were staying home and oftenand proven. With 20 million new gardeners in the U.S. thats a lot 10/ SEEDWORLD.COMFEBRUARY 2023'