Operating costs are the costs for each of the various production and harvest activities. The total cost of production is primarily of interest relative to the gross income from banana sales. The gross margin helps to relate these two figures. The gross margin (i.e., the gross revenue minus the total operating costs) is the amount remaining after paying for all of the operating input costs and for all labor (whether or not this labor was in fact "paid labor.") Therefore, the gross margin can be thought of as the amount left over to pay the ownership costs.