--- title: The produce calendar is a map of North America description: Produce follows the sun north every year, and refrigerated freight capacity follows it. How the harvest calendar reshapes reefer rates and cross-border lanes across North America. image: https://www.shipwts.com/hubfs/WTS%20Blog%20Post%20%20(43).png --- [![WTS Logo\_positivo-1](https://www.shipwts.com/hs-fs/hubfs/WTS%20Logo_positivo-1.png?width=200&height=62&name=WTS%20Logo_positivo-1.png "WTS Logo_positivo-1")](https://shipwts.com) - [Home](https://www.shipwts.com) - Services - [FTL](https://www.shipwts.com/en/services/full-truckload) - [LTL](https://www.shipwts.com/en/services/less-than-truckload) - [DRAYAGE](https://www.shipwts.com/en/services/drayage-transport) - [Intermodal & Other Services](https://www.shipwts.com/en/services/intermodal-secondary-services) - [Carriers](https://www.shipwts.com/en/carriers-page) - [LTL Online Quote](http://tms.shipwts.com/) - [Blog](https://www.shipwts.com/en/blog) - [Contact](https://www.shipwts.com/contact-us) [![WTS Logo\_positivo-1](https://www.shipwts.com/hs-fs/hubfs/WTS%20Logo_positivo-1.png?width=200&height=62&name=WTS%20Logo_positivo-1.png "WTS Logo_positivo-1")](https://shipwts.com) [![WTS Logo\_positivo-1](https://www.shipwts.com/hs-fs/hubfs/WTS%20Logo_positivo-1.png?width=200&height=63&name=WTS%20Logo_positivo-1.png "WTS Logo_positivo-1")](https://shipwts.com) - [Home](https://www.shipwts.com) - Services - [FTL](https://www.shipwts.com/en/services/full-truckload) - [LTL](https://www.shipwts.com/en/services/less-than-truckload) - [DRAYAGE](https://www.shipwts.com/en/services/drayage-transport) - [Intermodal & Other Services](https://www.shipwts.com/en/services/intermodal-secondary-services) - [Carriers](https://www.shipwts.com/en/carriers-page) - [LTL Online Quote](http://tms.shipwts.com/) - [Blog](https://www.shipwts.com/en/blog) - [Contact](https://www.shipwts.com/contact-us) [![WTS Logo\_positivo-1](https://www.shipwts.com/hs-fs/hubfs/WTS%20Logo_positivo-1.png?width=200&height=62&name=WTS%20Logo_positivo-1.png "WTS Logo_positivo-1")](https://shipwts.com) - [Home](https://www.shipwts.com) - Services - [FTL](https://www.shipwts.com/en/services/full-truckload) - [LTL](https://www.shipwts.com/en/services/less-than-truckload) - [DRAYAGE](https://www.shipwts.com/en/services/drayage-transport) - [Intermodal & Other Services](https://www.shipwts.com/en/services/intermodal-secondary-services) - [Carriers](https://www.shipwts.com/en/carriers-page) - [LTL Online Quote](http://tms.shipwts.com/) - [Blog](https://www.shipwts.com/en/blog) - [Contact](https://www.shipwts.com/contact-us) # The produce calendar is a map of North America By [Alejandro Garcia - FTL Manager](https://www.shipwts.com/en/blog/author/alejandro-garcia-ftl-manager) Oct 21, 2026, 8:59:44 AM 2 Minutes Read Every year, without fail, the fruit and vegetables on your grocery store shelf complete a journey that covers most of the continent. Not by coincidence by geography, season, and the logic of where the sun arrives first. Follow that journey and you have, without realizing it, a map of North American freight shipping that redraws itself every month. It starts in the south. In January, South Florida wakes up: tomatoes, squash, sweet corn, beans begin moving north in refrigerated trucks. Simultaneously, the growing regions of Mexico: Sinaloa, Michoacán, Sonora, Jalisco, are in full production. Strawberries, avocados, peppers, onions and early melons funnel toward two border crossings that become, for a few months, among the busiest cross-border shipping corridors on the continent: Pharr-Reynosa in Texas for produce from central and western Mexico, and Nogales-Mariposa in Arizona for the Pacific corridor. Together, these two gateways handle a significant portion of the fresh produce that North Americans eat between November and April. As winter turns to spring, the freight shipping map shifts northward. Georgia and the Carolinas come online with peaches, blueberries, watermelons. Texas and the Rio Grande Valley add their own wave of citrus and vegetables. By May, California’s Central Valley — the most productive agricultural region in the world, enters full season: strawberries, tomatoes, stone fruit, leafy greens, almonds. This is the moment when reefer capacity across the entire trucking logistics network feels the pressure most acutely, because multiple growing regions are shipping simultaneously and every refrigerated truck in the country has somewhere profitable to be. Spot reefer rates routinely climb 25% to 40% above their winter baseline during this window. For shippers moving [full truckload](https://www.shipwts.com/en/services/full-truckload) refrigerated freight during this period, securing capacity well ahead of the harvest peak is the difference between predictable costs and spot market exposure. Summer pushes the harvest further north still. Michigan cherries and blueberries. Pacific Northwest apples and pears. Canada’s Ontario and British Columbia add their own volumes as the growing season reaches its northern limit. By August, the continent’s freight shipping map looks almost inverted from January, the action is at the top, and the southern gateways that dominated winter are in their quiet season. Then autumn begins pulling it back south. The Pacific Northwest winds down. The Midwest harvest, corn, soybeans, pumpkins — shifts into a different kind of freight. And by November, South Florida begins warming up again, and the cycle restarts. What makes this pattern significant beyond agriculture is what it does to shipping capacity across the entire network. When reefer trucks concentrate in Florida or the Rio Grande Valley to capture outbound produce, every other shipper needing temperature-controlled freight, pharmaceuticals, processed foods, beverages, competes for whatever equipment is left. Carriers reposition assets toward the highest-paying markets, which means lanes that look stable on paper can tighten without warning when a harvest peaks nearby. The produce calendar isn’t just a farming schedule. It’s a capacity forecast for anyone moving refrigerated freight in North America and for the [cross-border shipping](https://www.shipwts.com/en/services/intermodal-secondary-services) operations that connect Mexican growing regions to U.S. and Canadian distribution networks, understanding where the season stands is as important as knowing where the truck is. #### Alejandro Garcia - FTL Manager Author ## Recommended For You [![](https://www.shipwts.com/hubfs/WTS%20Blog%20Post%20%20(2).png)](https://www.shipwts.com/en/blog/holiday-freight-winter-weather-planning-for-the-real-challenge) 1 Min Read ### [Holiday Freight + Winter Weather: Planning for the Real Challenge](https://www.shipwts.com/en/blog/holiday-freight-winter-weather-planning-for-the-real-challenge) [Jennifer Escolar - Customer Service Manager Dec 22, 2025, 10:58:29 AM](https://www.shipwts.com/en/blog/author/jennifer-escolar-customer-service-manager) [![](https://www.shipwts.com/hubfs/55.png)](https://www.shipwts.com/en/blog/usmca-not-renewed-what-nobody-in-the-industry-wants-to-say-out-loud) 1 Min Read ### [USMCA not renewed: what nobody in the industry wants to say out loud](https://www.shipwts.com/en/blog/usmca-not-renewed-what-nobody-in-the-industry-wants-to-say-out-loud) [Ana Martinez V. - LTL Manager Jul 27, 2026, 7:02:06 PM](https://www.shipwts.com/en/blog/author/ana-martinez-v-ltl-manager) [![](https://www.shipwts.com/hubfs/WTS%20Blog%20Post%20%20(41).png)](https://www.shipwts.com/en/blog/the-pallet-that-designed-the-trailer) 2 Min Read ### [The pallet that designed the trailer](https://www.shipwts.com/en/blog/the-pallet-that-designed-the-trailer) [Alejandro Garcia - FTL Manager Oct 5, 2026, 5:34:26 PM](https://www.shipwts.com/en/blog/author/alejandro-garcia-ftl-manager) ![logo-wts-hor-light (1)](https://www.shipwts.com/hs-fs/hubfs/logo-wts-hor-light%20(1).png?width=140&height=44&name=logo-wts-hor-light%20(1).png "logo-wts-hor-light (1)") Address: 1555 Bonaventure Blvd, Weston, FL 33326 PH: +1 (855) 7447987 Operations@shipwts.com Your Key Logistics Partner  [Follow us on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/worldtransportationservices/) [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/shipwts) [Follow us on Twitter](https://twitter.com/shipwts) [Follow us on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/shipWTS) [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.youtube.com/@shipwts)