CBH chairman Wally Newman says his predecessor Neil Wandel is entitled to vent his personal views.
But he said Mr Wandel had not witnessed the co-op's Board operating "smoother than ever" since he stepped down one year ago.
Mr Newman expressed disappointment at Mr Wandel's attack, including accusations grower-directors were motivated by "lifestyle" in wanting to retain their positions and over-reliant on directors' fees.
During a lengthy radio media interview, Mr Wandel said he didn't rate the current Board "very high" while accusing current directors of having "taken their eye off the big picture" with competition building, against the grower owned co-operative.
"I really can't see much vision or strategy of where they think CBH is going to be in the next 10 years," he said.
But Mr Newman said it was unfortunate that, as the current chairman, he was obligated to defend the CBH Board from the broad criticisms and comments made by his predecessor who he'd worked closely with, as his deputy.
"Mr Wandel is well aware that an attack on a director or directors is an attack on the whole board and directors don't make decisions on their own.
"CBH Board directors have a fiduciary duty or obligation to uphold decisions and it is disappointing that I have to comment.
"Rather than shoot from the hip I have fiduciary and governance duties to uphold.
"Neil has his obligations too as a former director but he's obviously thrown them to one side and given comment on what his true thoughts are."
Mr Newman said Mr Wandel was no longer in the CBH board room and had no first hand insight into how cohesively it was working today.
"I've got no doubt the CBH Board is working better than it ever has," he said.
"I can honestly say I've never seen the CBH Board performing as unified as it has in the past 12 months.
"We've always had a robust Board and we've made good decisions but it has just worked smoother than ever, since Neil has departed."
Mr Newman said if the giant WA grains co-op lacked strategy and vision now, the situation was no different to when Mr Wandel was on the Board where directors and management employed external specialists to help them develop strategy.
"During my 15 years on the CBH Board we've always been very good at strategy," he said.
"We always plan for events like competition and we have a plan in the bottom drawer for when such events arise."
Mr Newman declined to comment on whether referring to the seven co-operative-supporting grower directors colloquially as "The Taliban" was inappropriate.
"I hear a lot of things but I try and take most of it with a pinch of salt," he said.
"All I can look at is the performance and results.
"We've probably achieved more in the past 12 months than we have in any other year since I've been on the Board and not because I'm the chairman now but because we're getting the best out of every director.
"The CBH Board has never worked smoother since I've been in there and even if you ask our independent directors, they'll also say there has been a huge turnaround in the Board's performance that Neil would not be aware of, because he's no longer there."
Mr Newman said he strongly advised growers to always look at the facts and evidence in the debate over CBH's structure; especially given the recently reported moves by the Australian Grains Champions (AGC) to push for corporatisation.
He said if the corporate model was so attractive, growers should ask why no single candidate in the current CBH director elections was advocating corporatisation.
"Past history indicates that those who have stood on a corporate structure have failed to hold or win a directorship," he said.
Mr Newman said Mr Wandel also needed to remember the CBH directors he was criticising did not put themselves on the Board.
"The grower members of CBH put those growers on the Board," he said.
"Everyone is entitled to vote but to criticise the directors of the CBH Board is to also criticise the growers of WA."
Mr Newman also addressed assertions from Mr Wandel that bigger growers were being neglected or felt disillusioned by CBH's current direction.
He said in his view and that of the CBH Board, all growers are treated equitably, especially via rebates where they're rewarded in proportion to the amount of business they do in various business areas, like grain marketing or storage and handling.
"It's a fair system that's proportional to the amount of business that's done, so I don't see where Neil's coming from," he said.
"But everyone's entitled to their opinion and usually they're self-serving."
Mr Newman said a statement by Mr Wandel that CBH was delaying any serious announcements on network strategy changes, until after the current election period, to help keep current grower directors on the Board, was "totally inaccurate".
"I think Neil's got a short memory because while he was on the Board many grain delivery sites were closed," he said.
"Not permanently - but we do have a policy that we only use sites that are economically viable and in my shire alone there are five bins that have not been used in the past six years.
"And I know there are two bins in Neil's former zone in Esperance that come under that same policy with one having been demolished and another that hasn't been used for 10 years."
Mr Newman said CBH director fees were not set by the Board members but by engaging an external consultant to consider the company's size and workload, compared to other similar businesses throughout Australia.
He said the consultant then makes recommendations to the Board that are contained in the annual report.
But he said the CBH Board, in "being conservative", had this year elected to go with the lowest fee increase of 3.3pc over two years, given no increase had been made in the past two years.
"I've got to say I never saw Neil not put his hand up for a directors' fee increase during his time on the Board," he said.