[imgbelt img=rand.jpeg]Republican senatorial candidate Rand Paul (above) visited rural Kentucky promoting his path to prosperity — including reductions in farm subsidy programs. Paul has called for an end to many farm programs, calling them an example of government waste. Democrat Jack Conway has been hitting the Republican on this issue in Kentucky’s farming counties. Education Week has started a report on rural education. It’s titled, well, Rural Education, and it’s written by Mary Schulken, who knows rural schools from years covering them in North Carolina. Today’s entry is about changes taking place in the FFA. You can get to Mary’s stories here. The world’s largest initial public offering will likely be the Agricultural Bank of China, a state-run institution created to help spur development in rural China. The bank has 24,000 branches and 350 million customers. Analysts aren’t very keen on the prospects for a rural bank, even one in fast-growing China. “The rural banking business generally presents higher risks and lower returns compared to the urban banking business due to the lack of collateral, variable employment state and absence of credit history on rural clients,” said one analyst.