(1) The voting members of the Oregon Wheat Commission shall be selected and appointed because of their ability and disposition to serve the state’s interest and their knowledge of the state’s natural resources. Voting members appointed under ORS § 578.030 (1) must be United States citizens residing in this state.

(2) A nonpublic member appointed under ORS § 578.030 (1) must have been actually engaged in growing wheat in this state for the five year period immediately prior to being appointed to the commission. Of the nonpublic members appointed under ORS § 578.030 (1):

(a) Not less than three shall be residents of and have farming operations in that part of the Columbia Basin comprising Umatilla, Morrow, Gilliam, Sherman, Wasco and Jefferson Counties.

(b) Not less than one shall be a resident of and have a farming operation in the territory lying east of the summit of the Cascade Mountains and not described in paragraph (a) of this subsection.

(c) Not less than one shall be a resident of and have a farming operation in the territory lying west of the summit of the Cascade Mountains.

(3) A public member shall be a person who is not associated with the production or handling of wheat and who has an active interest in the positive economic development of the wheat industry.

(4) A member appointed to a position added under ORS § 578.030 (2) must be an owner or employee of a business entity that is engaged in the handling or processing of wheat produced in Oregon and have an active interest in the positive economic development of the wheat industry. [Amended by 2003 c.604 92,93; 2009 c.193 7,8]