HIGHWORTH dairy farmer Guy Dibble is hoping to wreak havoc when he joins other farmers in a blockade of an unnamed milk depot today.

Mr Dibble, of Eastrop Farm, is protesting against milk processors, who he says are crippling his industry.

The action is part of nationwide action that aims to starve the British public of their daily pinta.

Around 150 milk depots across the country will be targeted.

The farmers want 20.6p a litre for their milk rather than the standard 15.3p being paid at present.

In action reminiscent of the fuel crisis two years ago the farmers plan to stop lorry drivers as they arrive or leave depots and ask them not to cross the picket line.

Milk is delivered to depots where it is pasteurised and labelled before being delivered to supermarkets.

And the protesters believe by taking this action supermarket and shop shelves will be empty by Friday lunchtime.

Mr Dibble, 42, who has a wife and three children, said: "If we don't take action then no one will listen to us. The aim of the blockade is to mess up supply in the short term.

"Most dairy farmers are selling their milk below the cost of production. The average farmer now earns £4,500 each year, which is not consistent with the hours worked it's way below the minimum.

"I have no qualms about doing this at all and it will continue until we are given assurances that the price per litre will increase.

"It's the people we sell milk to who are making the profit. What people pay for their milk and what we receive are a lot different."

Milk accounts for 40 per cent of Mr Dibble's income on his 1,300-acre organic farm.

Dairy farmer Denise Plummer, 52, Wiltshire county chairman of the National Farmers' Union, said that she sympathised with the farmers' plight, but could not condone their action.

"Somehow we have got to make people who buy our products realise we need a fair amount of money for them, but I'm not sure this is the way to do it," she said.

"Farmers are producing milk at below the cost of production and battling against cheap imports. It's an undervalued industry," .

Vehicles delivering baby milk or making deliveries to factories and hospitals will be waved through blockades.

Jonathan Church, a spokesman for Tesco in Ocotal Way, Swindon, said milk supplies in stores should not be affected by the blockade.

"We would always strive to make arrangements so our customers continue to have supplies of milk," he said.