The jetties coming out into the river, and a host of ships in the Middle Ages, little wooden ships ferrying produce across from the Continent and back. (Source)
The structure of the whole sentence is quite confusing to me: how can I understand it?
I looked it up here. I would have picked the fourth meaning,
if you produce an object, you bring it out or present it, so that people can see or consider it
When challenged, he produced a gun.
But produce is not transitive in my example.
Best Answer
You've got to scroll down further on your definition page to:
You see that produce can also be a noun, so it means crops, food, or other things produced on a farm (and, might I add, elsewhere as well.)
Therefore, the sentence means: