Ray Anthony James, Ph.D. is an Organic Chemist, Nutritional Supplement Product Developer, researcher, educator, author, and speaker, with over 28 years in the pharmaceutical industry and at the FDA. He has over 30 patents and peer-reviewed scientific publications combined. As a Lead Investigator at Pharmacopeia and Ligand Pharmaceuticals and Principal Scientist at Intrexon Corporation from 1998 until 2015, he was involved in designing drugs for cancer and inflammation. He quit all the farce in 2016 to pursue his lifelong dream of BEING on EARTH and serving the soil and humanity. Today, Ray is a partner / founder of The Moringa Group, Gleeful Monkey, TMG Omega Limited, Soil Biotica, and Kissing Tadpoles Publishing Company, and a backyard Organic Farmer. He is the author of the children’s nutrition book, Veggie Rhapsody: I want you in my Lunch!.

Our conversation covers:

• His childhood in rural Jamaica with no plumbing on his home farm, frugal use of food, free roaming in nature, and not knowing he was ‘poor.’ As a teen he dreamed of a university education in the U.S. as he became fascinated with studying science and understanding why his ‘impoverished’ lifestyle with simple foods and herbs led to such good health.
• How he became enmeshed in the ‘expected’ path of a pharmaceutical career and the stresses of conventional life but saw his interests shifting as he and his wife studied nutrition and herbs. His time at the FDA led to a personal crisis and serious consideration of more holistic alternatives to pharmaceuticals. He recalled the role of Moringa in health in his childhood in Jamaica, began finding research studies on Moringa and helped a friend reverse diabetes with Moringa, and his company was born.
• Now in his holistic life and business, “my problems are light… my spirit has changed, my breathing has changed, my life has changed, I feel like I’m getting younger, I’m becoming this new wholesome person that is giving and accepting love.”
• Moringa is native to India and is a ‘miracle tree’ that requires no pesticides and can turn deserts into forests. It prevents malnutrition and has been scientifically evaluated for its ability to improve immunity, GI health, skin, hair, stress response, blood sugar, liver and kidney diseases, diabetes, and high cholesterol. It is very high in antioxidants and nutrients for cellular regeneration.
• He is setting up a regenerative Moringa farm in Jamaica on the model of multi-story forest agriculture, letting native plants flourish via intercropping of the Moringa trees for soil health and native species flourishing. The farm will provide local employment and a sustainable agriculture learning center for flourishing of people, plants, animals, insects, and soil.
• Ray and I both tear up talking about how human existence is dependent on soil microbes, and how plants and soil microbes cooperate in a way that is humbling for humans.  As Ray says, “the plants themselves, they know what they want, and I just have to be the steward… the plant determines what nutrients it wants and tells the microbes and attracts them to its root system…it’s a whole conversation going on below the soil.”
• With all the sustainable and regenerative options now available, it’s clear that we get to choose whether we want to live in ‘chemical soup’ or in life-enhancing ways.