Farmers For Action is preparing to launch a second protest against a big four retailer this time Asda.

The pressure group staged a protest outside Tesco's Southampton distribution depot last week, calling for British farmers to receive a greater share of grocery margin.

It planned to target an Asda depot as early as next week, it said. The Walmart-owned chain was next in the firing line because of its size, said FFA chairman, David Handley, likening it to Tesco.

"They buy it as cheap as they possibly can and continue to do so and they're not too worried how they do it," he said. "Asda and Tesco have the same sort of philosophy."

FFA was also considering protesting at Sainsbury's and Morrisons depots, he added. "Justin King is very good at creating spin, but I wouldn't put Sainsbury's at the top of the league in a long way." Morrisons was "the best of the lot", but it was still a target, he added.

FFA had started protesting again after a 14-month hiatus because retailer margin was growing while producer margin was diminishing, said Handley, citing last month's DairyCo Dairy Supply Chain Margins report, which showed the retailer margin on liquid milk up 34% on last year.

An extra 5p for the farmer per kilo of red meat or 1p or 2p extra per litre of milk would make the difference between a business making a profit or not, he said.

Responding to the threat, Asda said it was well-known for the partnership approach it had with British farmers.

Tesco said it had closed the depot gates and laid on extra security last week.