In late February 2026, a rumor circulated on social media claiming that tech billionaire Bill Gates donated $50 million to a company creating a new category of "biologically-modified crops."
One X post (archived) sharing the claim read:
"Bill Gates has donated $50 million to a new company called Terrana Biosciences, and they're going to create a new category of biologically-modified crops."
"It will not be labelled as modified, and it will not be labelled as GMO, but Bill Gates is betting on making profit by genetically modifying our food without telling us."
"Our EPA has already given it the green light."
The claim has also circulated on other social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
In a video attached to some of the posts, a narrator added that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency already approved the technology. The narrator also alleged the crops would not be labeled as genetically modified and described the technology as using viral RNA to "insert whatever gene they want into whatever crop they want."
However, these claims are false.
There was no credible evidence that Gates donated money to Terrana Biosciences or had any financial or operational involvement with the company. There was also no evidence that U.S. regulators approved any Terrana products for commercial use on crops. An EPA spokesperson confirmed to Snopes that the agency has not made any public determination regarding Terrana Biosciences' RNA-based technology.
A spokesperson for Flagship Pioneering, the venture capital firm that launched Terrana, confirmed to Snopes that the $50 million referenced in the posts came from Flagship's investment in Terrana and that Gates doesn't have any involvement with the company. The spokesperson also said Terrana does not currently have regulatory approvals to make the technology commercially available.
We also reached out to Terrana Biosciences to ask whether Gates has any involvement with the company and whether Terrana's technology has received regulatory approval. We will update this article if we receive a response.
No evidence Gates is involved
The company at the center of the rumor, Terrana Biosciences, is a biotechnology startup focused on agricultural innovation. It was publicly launched in July 2025 by the venture capital firm Flagship Pioneering.
According to Flagship Pioneering's news release, the venture company — not Gates — committed an initial $50 million to Terrana to help scale operations and develop its first crop-protection products. The $50 million figure cited in social media posts appears to originate from that announcement but was misrepresented as a donation from Gates.
A Flagship spokesperson confirmed to Snopes that the funding came from the firm and that Gates and the Gates Foundation have no financial, advisory or operational involvement with Terrana.
As of March 2026, we found no public evidence that Gates invested in Terrana or had any other connection to the company.
No evidence of EPA approval
Social media posts also claimed that Terrana's technology already received approval from the EPA. However, we found no evidence that regulators had approved any Terrana products, nor that any of the products had been deployed commercially. A spokesperson for Flagship Pioneering also told Snopes, "Terrana does not currently have any regulatory approvals to make this technology commercially available."
In a statement over email, an EPA spokesperson said the agency "has not made a public determination regarding Terrana Biosciences' RNA-based technology." The spokesperson added that RNA-based crop sprays used to control pests are generally regulated as pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act and the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
The video attached to some posts further claimed that the EPA had already "given it the green light" and determined the technology involved "naturally occurring compounds" that are "not GMO." However, as of March 2026, we found no public evidence that EPA had approved any Terrana Biosciences product for agricultural use or made such comments.
An EPA spokesperson also told Snopes the agency has not made any statements about GMO labeling for such products, adding that "the U.S. Department of Agriculture governs the labeling of bioengineered foods, rather than EPA."
Therefore, as of early 2026, Terrana's products remained in the research and development phase.
What Terrana's technology actually does
Terrana is developing RNA-based agricultural solutions focused on "enhancing crop resilience, protecting yields and addressing critical challenges in the global food system."
The narrator in the video spreading the rumor claimed the technology could use viral RNA to "insert whatever gene they want into whatever crop they want." However, according to Terrana, its approach uses RNA molecules to influence plant traits without altering the plant's underlying DNA genome.
Earlier rumors about RNA crop technology
This rumor appears to be a variation of earlier claims linking Gates to Terrana and RNA-based agricultural technology.
In July 2025, we investigated a similar rumor falsely alleging that Gates received approval to "secretly" spray synthetic RNA on crops in the United States. At the time, a spokesperson for Flagship Pioneering told us via email that neither Gates nor the Gates Foundation had any financial, advisory or operational involvement with Terrana Biosciences. The spokesperson also emphasized that any future products would need to undergo review by relevant U.S. regulatory agencies before entering the market.
The rumor likely stemmed from the fact that the Gates Foundation (then the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) awarded two grants in 2024 to other Flagship Pioneering companies for unrelated research. One of those companies was Sail Biomedicines, which was also developing an RNA-based solution for malaria prevention.
Bottom line
All in all, there was no evidence that Gates donated $50 million to Terrana Biosciences or that the company received regulatory approval to deploy its technology on crops. The $50 million referenced in social media posts likely refers to Flagship Pioneering's investment in the startup, not funding from Gates.
The claim is one of many recurring online rumors falsely linking Gates to controversial food or biotechnology projects.
Snopes' archives contributed to this report.