The FSOJ Company Undertakes the Following Activities in Its Production

The FSOJ Company undertakes the following activities in its production operation and incurred the following costs during the first half of 20x2: $\begin{array}{lr}\text { Harvest apples } & \$ 25,000 \\\text { Prepare apples for processing } & 20,000 \\\text { Extract juice from apples } & 18,000\\\text { Process juice into apple juice concentrate, }\\\text { apple juice or apple cider } & 30,000 \\\text { Package completed products } & 9,000\end{array}$ Processing the juice into 3 final products involves the use of 2 machines, each of which incurred amortization costs of $15,000 for the first half of 20x2. Each product requires a different set up on the processing machines, so FSOJ normally sets up the machines to produce concentrate for the first week of each month. The machine is then set up to produce apple juice for the next 2 weeks. Finally, workers set up the same machines to produce apple cider during the last week of each month.
During the first half of 20x2, 20% of the apples harvested were turned into apple juice concentrate, 50% were processed into apple juice, and 30% became apple cider. The relative sales values of each product were: 75% for apple juice, 20% for apple juice concentrate, and 5% for apple cider. The apple juice concentrate operation takes up 40% of FSOJ's total factory space. Regular apple juice and apple cider occupy 35% and 25%, respectively.
Preparing apples for processing involves peeling and removing seeds. The best cost driver for the cost of preparing apples for processing would be:

A) Square metres occupied by the preparation equipment
B) Number of apples harvested for each product line
C) Direct labour hours
D) Total direct costs