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 remain
ing 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.