Minnesota researchers are developing what could become the state's next cash crop. Russ Gesch is a research plant physiologist at the U-S-D-A Agricultural Research Service in Morris, and one of only a handful of people across the country working to create a domesticated version of the cuphea (coo-fee-ah) plant. The seeds of the cuphea produce a type of oil that's used in hundreds of everyday items, from toothpaste to detergent. Gesch says American companies now import coconut and palm oils to manufacture such household products. He believes the cuphea plant could eliminate the country's foreign dependence and shift business to the Midwest.