A unit specialising in food and agriculture, biosecurity, climate change and environmental research will bear the brunt of a massive round of sackings announced earlier this week by Australia's national scientific agency.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation chief executive Doug Hilton told staff gathered for a town hall meeting on Monday that up to 350 jobs would be on the chopping block, but did not provide details of what division's would be hardest hit at the time.

However, a spokesperson for Science Minister Tim Ayres has confirmed to ACM that the Environment Research Unit would likely lose up to 150 researchers, or 20 per cent of its current staffing allocation.

He said while no discipline was being singled out, the agency had made strategic choices to "e

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