Water Efficient Sorghum Technologies (WEST) is developing more water-efficient sorghum crops that require less water to produce more biomass. Regular sorghum requires an Olympic-sized swimming pool of water to produce 9 tons of biomass per acre, while WEST sorghum will require 40% less water and produce 27% more biomass (11 tons) on average. Through 2016-2019, with ARPA-E funding, WEST aims to develop sorghum plants with 20% less water demand by engineering genes for reduced water loss and improved crop canopies. After 2019, WEST seeks additional funding to combine these improvements into a single plant that requires 40% less water for a 27% higher yield.