A ripening room (10) for controlled produce ripening includes side walls (18 and 20). The room (10) receives two rows of boxed produce (26) spaced to define an interstitial volume (50) therebetween. Each row of product (26) is spaced from one of the side walls (18 or 20) to define a side airspace (24) therebetween. The room (10) also includes air control units (32). The side airspaces (24) and the interstitial volume (50) are enclosed to inhibit airflow except through the air control units (32) and through the produce boxes (26). The air control units (32) transfer air from the interstitial volume (50) to the side airspaces (24) during one time period to form a low pressure plenum in the interstitial volume (50) and high pressure plena in the side airspaces (24) to force air to flow from the side airspaces (24) to the interstitial volume (50) through the produce boxes (26). The air control units (32) can reverse airflow direction during another time period to reduce temperature variations in the boxed produce (26).