Abstract: | Let A be an n × m matrix over GF 2 where each column consists of k ones, and let M be an arbitrary fixed binary matroid. The matroid growth rate theorem implies that there is a constant CM such that m ≥ CMn2 implies that the binary matroid induced by A contains M as a minor. We prove that if the columns of A = A n,m,k are chosen randomly, then there are constants kM,LM such that k ≥ kM and m ≥ LMn implies that A contains M as a minor with high probability . |