The farmers formed the Planters' Protective Association to oppose the monopoly. Under leader Felix G. Ewing's plan, they would grow tobacco, but store it in Ewing's warehouses until the market price increased. Ewing stressed that his plan would require the cooperation of all tobacco growers. Breaking the boycott was not allowed. The association was created in 1904 so farmers could sell their crop for a set price (originally set at eight cents per pound and two cents per pound over the cost of production). The Association would keep the tobacco in their own warehouses and pay the farmers when they sold its holdings. At the beginning of their work, between 70% to 95% of farmers in the county were signing contracts to deliver their crop only to the association (percentages varied in some regions). However, in the first year of the Association, many non member producers, and even Association members, ignored their pledges. They undermined the attempt to meet the Tobacco Trust (Monopoly) on an economic basis. They chose to seek personal profit, as the Trust then paid ten to twelve cents per pound in an attempt to destroy the Association. For example, in 1906, non-members were selling to the Trust at ten to twelve cents a pound while Association members were receiving seven and one-eighth cents. In order to solve this problem, farmers in the association met at Stainback School House; where they decided that some of the members should become "Possum Hunters". Possum Hunters were told to visit non-members in groups of not less than five men, but not more than 2,000, to put pressure on non-member farmers to join and increase the strength of the Association. These nightly meetings eventually led to the violence of the Masked Silent Brigade (or the Night Riders). The American Tobacco Company, also known as the Tobacco Trust, was one of the most sophisticated and highly financed industrial monopolies in the late 1890s. When the burley tobacco crop of 1906 and 1907 was boycotted by the ATC, farmers resorted to desperate measures. In the year 1908, more than 35,000 farmers in more than 30 counties did not plant tobacco, and an entire year's worth of crop was lost. As a result, the ATC agreed to the farmers demands in November 1908. The Night Riders began to attack individual farms and crops if the farmers did not support the Association. Large groups of armed Night Riders even took over some towns in actions in which they destroyed tobacco crops stored in Trust warehouses, as well as the buildings and machinery.