`Turn Back Every Shipment Coming Over" proclaims the placard above the farmer's head. Turning the placard around, the next message reads: "New Labour: Old Problems, New Deal?"
Standing among Welsh farmers at the port of Holyhead is Mr Peter Rogers. He is one of their local representatives and something of a hero among the farming community of north Wales.
He is a "sparky, determined" man. And he repeats the word "trust" over and over again. It is the "trust" of all the farmers that he needs to ensure there is no trouble. It is their "trust" in elected representatives that will guarantee all the Irish beef on the ferry from Dun Laoghaire is "sent back to Ireland".
Until the early hours of last Monday morning, when Welsh farmers dumped Irish beefburgers into the sea off Holyhead, the British government was confident it could get the worldwide ban on British beef exports lifted in Brussels. Beef consumption in Britain was approaching pre-BSE levels but when the burgers went into the sea, the whole farming issue exploded in the government's face.
Farmers have told desperate stories this week of having cattle and other livestock sold at market for hundreds of pounds less than in the days before the BSE crisis. They have wondered how they will feed their children at Christmas.
They have agonised over the strength of sterling and the high level of beef imports from Ireland, France and New Zealand which has encouraged British supermarkets to buy cheaper meat products from outside the UK.
Combined with the announcement that Britain is to ban meat on the bone, the refusal of Agriculture Minister Dr Jack Cunningham to go cap-in-hand to the EU for £800 million in green pound subsidies and the call by the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, to allow the free movement of trade, the farmers feel justified "in taking the law into our own hands".
Accused of "protectionism" by the European Commission this week for turning back Irish meat products from the ports of Wales and Stranraer in Scotland, the contradiction in terms of the farmers' reaction to the French truck drivers' dispute last year is swept aside with a brush of the hand. For the Welsh farmers, it is not to say the contradiction is entirely lost on them - they have simply chosen to ignore it.
"We have nothing against the farmers in Ireland," they repeat day after day at the blockade in Holyhead. "If we lived near Dover, we would do the same thing there . . . It is pointless to go somewhere else to protest when we see Irish lorries carrying the beef coming and going all year long."
The Welsh farmers say they have "no problem" with the Irish farmer. "We're between a rock and a hard place," said Mr H.F. Davies, a farmers' representative. "Yes, we are taking a lead from the French truck drivers," said another farmer. "It worked for them . . . when there is no light at the end of the tunnel, this is the only way to do it."
Indeed, as the blockades of the ports have spread across Britain and some farmers have been arrested, it has become clear that the farmers could not have succeeded in their actions so far without the co-operation of the ports authorities and the British police. Mr Rogers made use of the fact on Wednesday night.
"We've done this whole thing on trust," he told farmers as their representatives checked the paperwork of trucks coming through Holyhead. "We've trusted the police and they've kept their word. They've not tried to move us on tonight."
At Holyhead, the port authorities have refused to comment on their co-operation with the farmers. The curious sight of port workers handing out the Irish truck drivers' paperwork to the farmers was observed night after night this week.
Privately, the port authorities know that if they don't co-operate with the farmers, they will come to Holyhead en masse and shut down the port to all commercial and private traffic.
For the moment, the British police seem content to stand on the sidelines and observe. However, it is an odd sight when a British policeman asks a farmer if he wants to look inside the back of a truck driving out of a major UK port to find out if he wants to turn back any Irish meat that may be on board.
And so on one side, the farmers' unions continue their appeal to their members to abandon the blockades and the 24-hour picket at Holyhead. On the other, farmers have called for the resignation of the leader of the Farmers' Union of Wales, Mr Bob Parry. The Irish Road Haulage Association has called on its members to break the farmers' blockade.
The blockades may go on for another six weeks. The farmers are certainly prepared for the long haul. However, the British government must soon tackle the question of EU subsidies to the farmers. They must also answer the question of whether the British police can continue to remain on the sidelines and whether the port authorities can allow the blocking of the free movement of goods without sanction.