On my regular visits to the mainland, there's certainly plenty of finger-pointing at "big irrigators" - whoever they may be. Sadly, this has started to be a thing here in Tassie too. Greater Hobart residents will soon face water restrictions because of below-average rainfall in Tasmania's southeast and the city's projected demand. The water that's not used by households at night will be transferred to irrigators in the state's south-east to use on their crops.

This announcement flushed out finger-pointers who argue that, as they now pay for water through metered use, they should not have to face restrictions, especially when farmers are still accessing water from the same source.

Humour me for a moment - and let's pretend we just ban irrigation. What could we eat if we had to rely on dry land agriculture? Well, there'd be sorghum, wheat and barley. No rice or maize. Definitely no potatoes. Forget about salad - even if the tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers are grown in a glasshouse, irrigation is involved. No more beans or Asian greens. Chickpeas would still be on the menu, but tofu would be off (now, there's a blessing).

Fruit? Maybe bananas from the wet tropics, but the Christmas mangoes and cherries would go by the wayside, as would all those yummy summer berries. Dairy would definitely be off the menu. Maybe some beef, pork and chicken would survive, and wild-caught seafood would be OK.

The café scene would disappear in the absence of tea, coffee and milk. No wine or cider, and the beer would have to be made without hops. Christmas lunch could be seafood, a roast chook, bread with hummus, washed down with whisky.

Not so bad, maybe - but we'd be faced with the same menu the next day and the next until the sea is fished out and we've all got scurvy. Nobody wants that.

Tasmanian agriculture continues to be one of the mainstays of the economy. When all else may be tumbling down, when doom and gloom prevails, people in paddocks and on tractors are working every day - including Christmas - to provide safe, high quality food and fibre.

The very best Christmas gift any of us could make would be to ensure that we think local and buy local when preparing for this important family celebration. So, about that Christmas lunch ... please be upstanding and raise your glasses, and let's give thanks to all our farmers and irrigators, big and small.