Produce Season Is Here. Are You Positioned to Make the Most of It?

If you run a reefer, this is your moment and the carriers who know that are already moving. Nogales, South Texas, McAllen, California’s Central Valley freight is ramping up across all of them right now; rates are outperforming dry van in several of these lanes, and the window to capture the best of it is open. Positioning near the right hubs, staying in the reload cycle, and having real-time visibility into loads as they hit the market that’s what’s separating a good produce season from a great one. Here’s what’s happening on the ground right now and how to make the most of it.

Across key growing regions like Nogales, South Texas, and California’s Central Valley, freight volumes are ramping up, and capacity is tightening. According to FreightWaves, reefer demand has been accelerating through April, tied directly to active harvest cycles. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service data confirms the uptick in shipment volumes across these regions. This is one of the most predictable surges in freight, and that’s exactly what makes it worth paying attention to.

Why Produce Freight Is Its Own Animal

Produce loads behave differently from almost everything else on the board. Short shelf life means shippers need trucks immediately, not eventually. Temperature requirements are strict and nonnegotiable. And because volumes spike based on harvest cycles rather than general market demand, the windows of opportunity are short and concentrated. When capacity falls behind demand in a produce hub, rates can move fast and brokers are booking just as quickly.

For reefer carriers, that’s a real opportunity. But it’s one that rewards positioning over reaction.

Where the Action Is Right Now

Produce season doesn’t spread evenly; it moves geographically, and right now a few areas are doing most of the work. Nogales, Arizona is one of the biggest crossborder produce hubs in the country, and it’s seeing consistent reefer shortages during peak weeks with strong outbound demand and tight truck availability. Down in South Texas, the McAllen and Laredo corridors are moving heavy volume from Mexico imports, with loads booking fast and competition for trucks running high. And California’s Central Valley and Salinas are in the middle of their seasonal ramp up, with outbound rates climbing as harvest activity expands.

Reefer rates have been outperforming dry van in several of these regions in recent weeks, particularly where capacity hasn’t caught up to demand yet. That gap doesn’t stay open forever, but it’s there right now.

Speed Is the Real Competitive Edge

The biggest mistake carriers make during produce season is treating it like the rest of the year. Checking loads manually, calling brokers one by one, reacting instead of anticipating that approach costs real money when loads are moving this fast. By the time a good load gets found through a slow process, it’s already booked.

What actually works is getting ahead of it. Positioning your truck near high-volume regions before peak days rather than chasing loads across the country. Focusing on short turnarounds, because produce loads often come with faster unload times and immediate reload opportunities, carriers who stay in that cycle can run more profitable miles in less time. Watching lane patterns closely, because some lanes pay more but disappear quickly while others stay consistent but lower paying and knowing which is which helps you decide when to hold and when to move. And keeping empty miles to a minimum, because deadhead during produce season is especially costly when fuel is still elevated, and rates vary significantly by region.

Realtime load visibility matters more during produce season than almost any other time of year. The carriers capturing the best loads right now aren’t searching manually; they’re getting notified the moment loads hit the market and moving before the window closes.

Make the Most of It While It’s Here

Produce season doesn’t last all year. The highest demand windows are intense and competitive, but they’re also genuinely profitable for carriers who are ready. More weekly revenue, better utilization, stronger broker relationships all compound when you’re running in the right lanes at the right time.

At 123Loadboard, we give reefer carriers real-time visibility into available loads, so you’re not searching while someone else is booking. Produce season is here and there’s plenty of opportunity left in it.