Since April 1996 Zions Bank, the largest subsidiary of Zions Bancorporation, a $6.5-billion bank holding company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that is one of the largest originators and poolers of Small Business Administration 504 and 7a loans in the US, has become the number one supporter and potential user of the Farmer Mac secondary market for agricultural mortgage loans. Over the last few months, Zions has: 1. purchased a 32.5% voting interest in Farmer Mac, 2. acquired the physical assets and personnel of an ongoing agricultural lending operation headquartered in Ames, Iowa, and 3. purchased a 40% interest in Farmer Mac's December offering of 1.25 million shares of non-voting common stock.