The USDA is terminating its hops marketing order.

The program, which will end on Dec. 31, was put into effect to restrict the production of hops, a beer-flavoring crop grown mostly in the Pacific Northwest, the Agriculture Department reported. The federal marketing order for hops was started in 1966. By law, the order is supposed to provide an orderly and stable market environment for growers and consumers. That has not been the case with hops in recent years, the department said.