JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Democratic Attorney General candidate Jeff Harris says he would use his office to side with local property owners against large animal feeding operations.

Harris says he would work to ensure animal feeding operations follow state laws and make farms clean up any messes that they make. He says that local property owners should have more say in deciding where the farming operations can be located.

Regulating the feeding operations has been a controversial issue that splits Missouri's farmers. Some believe that county governments should be allowed to create health ordinances limiting the feeding operations, arguing it's an issue of local control. Others say that there needs to be consistent rules across the state and that county ordinances impede agriculture.