Wesfarmers chief Richard Goyder defends his supermarket Wesfarmers CEO Richard Goyder in his office in Perth. WESFARMERS chief Richard Goyder says it is "too easy" to blame supermarket giant Coles for the problems besetting farmers and suppliers. Mounting another fierce defence of the grocer, Mr Goyder said the Coles resurgence had sparked increased competition and created new opportunities in the industry. "I get a bit perplexed when Coles is blamed for many of the challenges in the farming and food sector today," he told shareholders at the Wesfarmers annual meeting in Perth late today. The farming and food industries do have challenges today, as they have had for many years. But it is just too easy, too simplistic to blame the supermarkets for a lot of these difficulties. Producers and suppliers were not helped by the strong Australian dollar, productivity issues and "cumbersome" regulations, he said. But opportunities were also emerging, Mr Goyder said. He said that since Wesfarmers took ownership of Coles in 2007, the supermarket now sold an extra $4 billion worth of Australian food a year. More than 90 per cent of Coles branded food and drink was made or grown domestically. "We sometimes make mistakes," Mr Goyder said. We are not perfect, and we are very conscious of the important role we play in Australia for all our stakeholders. It comes after the competition watchdog last week said it had gathered "extensive" evidence of anti-competitive behaviour by the major supermarket chains. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has been probing the industry in an investigation due to end in the comgin weeks. Chairman Rod Sims said last week the watchdog would decide early next year whether to launch legal action against the grocers. Coles was again Wesfarmers' standout performer in 2013, with the supermarket chalking up $1.5 billion in earnings for the year to June - up 13 per cent on the previous year. Mr Goyder told investors diversified conglomerates such as Wesfarmers - which also owns Kmart, Target, Bunnings and Officeworks as well as resources, insurance and chemicals businesses - had to constantly adapt to respond to new forms of competition. He said online titan Amazon was one such example and the global retailer offered many products similar to those sold at Wesfarmers' businesses. "All Wesfarmers retail businesses have to be entrepreneurial, fast moving, long-term in outlook, innovative and fit to take on not just Woolworths, Aldi, IGA and Costco who are aggressive competitors, but new entrants such as Amazon," Mr Goyder said. Such businesses operated "in a borderless world," he said. We look forward to taking on these new competitive challenges, hopefully within a framework which encourages competition to build real and sustainable shareholder and stakeholder value over time. Wesfarmers shares closed up 0.5 per cent at $43.48 ahead of the annual meeting.