Historically, people could do little to protect their crops from being devastated by locusts, although eating the insects may have been some consolation. By the early 20th century, efforts were being made to disrupt the development of the insects by cultivating the soil where eggs were laid, collecting hoppers with catching machines, killing them with flamethrowers, trapping them in ditches, and crushing them with rollers and other mechanical methods. By the 1950s, the organochloride dieldrin was found to be an extremely effective insecticide, but it was later banned from use in most countries because of its persistence in the environment and its bioaccumulation in the food chain.