The Kern County Department of Agriculture is going to expand its Asian Citrus Psyllid quarantine after that pest was found in the Westchester area of central Bakersfield.Agriculture commissioner Ruben Arroyo says the new boundaries will extend east-to-west from Jewetta Avenue to Fairfax Road, and north to Meadows Field.

“We’re probably encompassing a 15-to-25-mile radius now – right around there,” he said.

The old quarantined zone was five miles, Arroyo said.

The insect can carry a citrus greening disease which Arroyo says could ruin the state’s $2.4 billion citrus industry.

– Anthony Pollreisz