Produce season finder: what ships from where, month by month

Where the data comes from

The finder uses USDA Agricultural Marketing Service data on refrigerated truck shipments of fruits and vegetables, by origin shipping area, commodity and quarter 516478. We averaged the three full years 2023, 2024 and 2025, so one unusual season doesn't skew the picture. Tonnages are reported shipments only; USDA notes that not every commodity and origin is covered, so treat the numbers as a guide to timing and relative size, not a complete count.

A quarter counts as peak when it carries 30% or more of an area's yearly tonnage; an even year would be 25% each quarter. Areas with no quarter that high are shown as year-round. The data is quarterly, so the month view shows the quarter that month falls in.

The produce calendar at a glance

A worked example

EXAMPLE: a reefer owner-operator based in Georgia wants to plan the first half of the year. In the finder, Florida peaks from January to June: 35% of its tonnage in the first quarter and 50.6% in the second, with strawberries, tomatoes, cabbage early and watermelons, tomatoes, sweet corn later. Arizona peaks from January to March with processed lettuce, romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, and Mexico-Arizona crossings are busiest from January to June. By July, Florida drops to about 1% of its year, so the plan shifts: California peaks from April to September with grapes, strawberries, iceberg lettuce in summer.

That gives a simple shape for the year: Florida and the Southeast in winter and spring, then west to California for summer if the truck runs national, or north to the Great Lakes, which ship 33.5% of their year from July to September.

Reading the result

Peak season

Peak quarters are when an area needs the most reefers. Demand for trucks there usually rises, which can mean more loads to choose from. It can also mean long waits at sheds and tight appointment windows, so peak isn't automatically better.

Main crops

The crops tell you what the freight will be like: berries and leafy greens need tight temperature control and quick transit, melons and potatoes are heavy, citrus and apples ship over long seasons. Each changes the paperwork, the pulp temperature checks and the claims risk.

Tonnage

Tons show size, not rates. A big area like California (8.8 million tons a year in this data) ships something every quarter; a small area can be busy for a few weeks and quiet the rest of the year.

Planning reefer weeks around produce season

• Get set up early. Broker and shipper setups take time; finish them before the area peaks.
• Plan the reload. Peak areas pull trucks in, but the outbound side of the destination decides your next week.
• Count the waits. Shed waits at peak can be long; price them with detention terms in writing.
• Watch fuel. Long runs from Florida, Arizona or California add reefer hours; check the cost with the trip fuel cost calculator.
• Judge each load. A peak-season rate still has to clear your numbers in the load profitability calculator.

Seasons shift from year to year

A three-year average smooths out the swings, but a single season can start early after a warm winter, run late after heavy rain, or come up short after a freeze or a hurricane. Use the finder to plan the shape of your year, then watch the current season as it arrives: brokers who move produce talk about volumes weeks ahead, and USDA publishes weekly reports on reefer truck availability by shipping area. When those reports show trucks getting scarce in an area, that's the signal the season has started there.

Border crossings

A large share of produce on US reefers comes north from Mexico through Texas, Arizona and California crossings, and from Canada. In this data, Mexico-Arizona peaks from January to June (34.4% and 40.4% of its year), while Mexico-Texas stays steady through the year. Loads usually start on the US side after crossing, often from warehouses near the border. Arizona's own fields, by contrast, ship 53.9% of their year in the first quarter.

Produce season and the loads we book

When we dispatch reefers, the season is part of the plan: where the crops are moving, which brokers have that freight, and how the truck gets back. We never promise rates or load counts, and you confirm or say no to every load. See reefer dispatch and our notes on the West Coast, browse all tools, or apply. The data covers 4 quarters of 16 shipping areas and is refreshed once a year.