Committee shortly thereafter. As a junior member of the Agriculture Committee, Talmadge worked to address the constantly changing needs of the nation's farmers in an evolving global economy. Talmadge also worked to expand support for both farmers and children and families in hunger through his work on the passage Child Nutrition Act of 1966, but most significantly in 1969 and 1970 as part of the re-authorization and expansion of the 1946 School Lunch Act which Russell had authored and considered to be his greatest legislative achievement. Talmadge was a great admirer of the work Russell had done on the 1946 act but recognized that significant improvements were needed. Talmadge, after noting that only one-third of American children living in families making less than $2000 a year were able to participate in the program said “We must use food as a tool of education. A child cannot learn if he is hungry. It has been the experience of school administrators in economically deprived areas that there is a marked improvement in school attendance when children can look forward to the prospect of a good meal at school.” Major goals of the new Talmadge proposal were in providing funding for equipment, increasing the required level of support from states, allowing the “lunch to follow the child”- allowing students from low income families that lived in higher income areas to remain eligible for the program, establishment of the National Advisory Council on Child Nutrition, and special assistance for needy children. The amendments for these purposes became law on May 14, 1970. When Sen. Allen Ellender of Louisiana assumed chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee following Richard Russell's death in January 1971, Talmadge became chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, a position he held until leaving office in 1981. Talmadge's elevation to Agriculture Committee Chairman came at a time when many analysts were forecasting that the world's need for food would soon outstrip its productive capacity. Under Talmadge's leadership, the Senate Agriculture Committee confronted these problems throughout the 1970s. Talmadge oversaw the passage of several bills that more than doubled spending on farm programs by the end of the 1970s. In addition to the Rural Development Act of 1972, some of the other major bills passed under Talmadge's chairmanship included: The Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 (also known as the 1973 U.S. Farm Bill) which provided for commodity price support, soil conservation,