In their family farming enterprise, Joe and Tom Dent don't argue about who owns what. The father-son team has an informal working arrangement and strives to stay on an equal footing.

Bringing a new generation into a farm operation can be a tight fit at times. First, the business must be profitable and financially strong enough to generate income for more than one family.

Second, being in business with family members is not always easy; at times, it's more difficult than with unrelated partners. You cannot choose your parents or your children. The younger generation needs to establish clear career objectives. Often, this means going to school longer or working at other jobs while they develop confidence and a personal identity.

"After Tom graduated from high school, he went with the wheat harvest for three years, rather than go to college," said Joe Dent, talking about his son. "He had always planned to join the family operation, but we wanted him to find out what other things were like before he settled in here."

It was the right choice for Tom. "Being part of a custom harvesting crew was good experience," said Tom. "I learned to work, to work hard. That helps wherever you farm."

That was more than a decade ago. Since 1992, Joe and Tom Dent have worked together on the family's Wayne County, Iowa, farm.

"To make this kind of arrangement work, you need an idea of what's mine, what's yours and what's ours," said Joe. "Ours is a laid-back business organization, but it works."

From the first, the father-son team opted for an informal business structure, rather than incorporate or even establish a formal partnership.

"We farmed together but as two separate proprietorships until this past year," said Joe. "Then, we set up a 50-50 ownership in about everything. But it's still a pretty informal arrangement. We divide expenses, and we split returns. We each own machinery, but we share operating expenses."

"I couldn't have gotten started any other way. When we started, I didn't own anything," Tom recalled. "But as we went along, I bought replacement equipment and gained control over more land--much of it through renting. I still don't own as many pieces of equipment, but our machinery investments are pretty comparable now."

"We're more nearly on equal footing in the operation now," agreed Joe Dent. "Tom rented land to get started. I owned more acres, but he has added more land all along."

"And we split up the decisions fairly evenly," Tom added. "We're lucky, in that we haven't had many disagreements--very few arguments. Which doesn't mean that we don't sometimes have differences of opinion. But we respect each other's opinion and talk things out. We don't argue, but we have some fairly animated discussions. I'm sure our wives at times cannot tell the difference. But I rely on Dad's experience, and his influence has helped me immensely."

"We've had to do some things we might otherwise not have done to keep FSA [Farm Service Agency] happy where LDP [loan deficiency payment] and other farm programs are concerned," said Joe. "But we operate on the theory that verbal agreements and handshakes are as binding as pieces of paper, and we aren't likely to change that way of doing things."

The Dent family has farmed in Wayne County for nearly 100 years now. Just after the turn of the 20th century, Joe's grandfather bought land near Humeston, Iowa. In the late 1920s, the farm economy went into a decline, signaling the Great Depression that followed a few years later. The Dent farm--like many others--suffered financial setbacks that saw the loss of that land. After World War II, Albert Dent, Joe's father, bought land.

"My father farmed all of his life and moved to this farm in 1947," said Joe. "Tom is the fourth generation of the family to farm here, and this year we are growing the 56th crop since my Dad bought this place."

Today, Joe and Tom Dent rotate corn and soybeans on several hundred owned and rented acres of Wayne County land.

Joe and Pat Dent live just southwest of Humeston. Tom and Denise and their two daughters live down the road about a mile. Joe currently is a director on the corporate board of MFA Incorporated. Formerly, he served on the advisory board of the Humeston MFA Agri Services Center. Tom is a delegate on the MFA Oil Company board.

Joe Dent, now in his early 60s, is doing some preliminary planning for retirement.

"Pat and I will probably lease much of the land we own to Tom and Denise," he said. "We will have to work out an orderly transfer of assets or the control of assets. The rental on CRP [Conservation Reserve Program] land and the land we lease to Tom will be a good retirement supplement. But we aren't planning to organize a corporation or other overly formal structure. We'll probably come up with a sort of hybrid arrangement that fits both my needs and Tom's needs."

And the Dents will talk things over in calm terms before they make those joint decisions.

"I'm not sure how many families could make our kind of situation work," said Joe Dent. "The 'people' dimension has to be right. As partners, Tom and I think alike in a lot of areas, but we complement each other, rather than being too much alike."

"It takes mutual respect," added Tom. "I have a lot of respect for Dad, and he has for me. And part of the reason we have operated the way we have is to let each of us have our own independent natures, plus a certain pride of ownership in farm assets. We're lucky, I guess, in that we work together so well."