Thought Leadership & Public outreach
Open Rivers, and its founder Shefali, have invested in outreach and developing materials to share lessons learned, raise awareness of critical issues, provide thought leadership and elevate the voices and work of the many we have been fortunate to support and work alongside.
The Open Rivers blog and Open Rivers Navigator, our podcast, highlight our work and our community. Our plentiful resources provide an opportunity to get to know our perspectives and the content and expertise we bring to our work.
View some of our insights below.
At Open Rivers, we believe…
farmer profitability is a core part of farmer sustainability.
Healthy Soils, Profitable Farms: Rethinking Agricultural Sustainability
We support farmer-led, data-driven efforts that the end users are front and center, like the Soil Health Partnership (SHP), one of the first broad-scale, farmer-led efforts to bring practical, science-based solutions to the field. Dr. Shefali Mehta, who was the Executive Director of SHP from 2018-2019, shares about the work of the Soil Health Partnership to shift the dialogue in agriculture: putting farmers at the center of innovation and building a more sustainable future from the soil up.
entrepreneurship drives transformational change that is aligned with people, profit, and planet.
PODCAST: Turning Ideas into Impact: Entrepreneurial Lessons from a Systems Strategist
As the founder of Open Rivers Consulting Associates, Shefali helps businesses and nonprofits develop impactful strategies through data-driven decision-making, innovation, and a holistic approach. In this episode of the Wantrepreneurs podcast, Shefali shares how understanding resource allocation, prioritization, and adaptability can transform the way entrepreneurs approach problem-solving and success.
“We live in a world of limited resources. Success isn’t about having more—it’s about knowing how to allocate what you already have.”
– SHefali Mehta
Spotlighting Women in AgriFoodTech
At Open Rivers, we believe in elevating the stories of women leaders and entrepreneurs in AgriFoodTech. By creating a multimedia platform to amplify these voices, we help surface innovative ideas and thoughts that are critical for solving our most urgent problems.
innovation is accelerated through trust, technology, and scalable solutions
Unlocking the Agricultural Data Revolution:
The agricultural data revolution starts with connection.
To truly unlock the power of agricultural data, we need more than just technology—we need trust, inclusivity, and coordination.
Video: Community Call to Action: What do we need to Unlock the Ag Data Revolution?
As part of a major multi-institutional collaboration, this webinar features Dr. Shefali Mehta in conversation on why building trust between farmers and ranchers who generate the data, and the researchers and modelers who turn it into tools, is essential to advancing the role of data in revolutionizing agriculture. Shefali examines why we must welcome new ideas and technologies from other industries, embracing diverse perspectives to leap ahead. And we need to bring it all together—centralizing knowledge in accessible, streamlined platforms that make it easier to find, share, and act on information. This webinar was part of Unlocking the Agricultural Data Revolution, a two-day virtual event hosted by FFAR and partners.
Video: How industries outside of ag overcome data challenges
In this session, Dr. Shefali Mehta moderates a panel discussion on how other industries like healthcare overcome challenges around managing data and navigating data privacy.
Video: AI, Climate, and Health: Centering Equity in Innovation
“Depending on how we design the AI, we can keep perpetuating the same biases...because the way that we pull in the data, the way that we treat the gaps, continues to come through these biased filters. How do you fundamentally change the beginning so that the outcomes start to actually look different than they've been for some time?"
In this roundtable hosted by the Gupta-Klinsky India Institute at Johns Hopkins University, in collaboration with Dasra’s ClimateRISE Alliance and Indiaspora, experts explored how AI can support climate and health interventions in India and beyond. In this excerpt, Shefali V. Mehta, Founder of Open Rivers Consulting Associates, challenges the equity gaps in climate response and AI design—calling for a reimagining of power, data, and decision-making to drive just and lasting solutions.
Blog: Innovating from tHe Ground Up: Tech Solutions for Indian Agriculture
“Besides the companies developing products and solutions, we should also consider individual farmers as entrepreneurs. Individual farmers run their own businesses and are naturally innovating to address gaps...By co-creating with farmers and designing operationally feasible solutions, we could see the technological shifts needed in this space."
India houses one of the most diverse agricultural industries in the world. India is well-positioned to rapidly uptake new technological innovations, but these technologies must be fit-for-purpose, scalable, and cost-effective to suit India's unique landscape and agricultural barriers. Dr. Shefali Mehta outlines key areas where entrepreneurs could make a major difference: logistics and operations, tailored smallholder solutions, infrastructure and transportation, water resources, and diversified production.
"Leveraging India’s strengths in technology, entrepreneurial mindset, effective partnerships and long history of agricultural knowledge provides the answers to the onerous challenges of feeding the world, improving the livelihood of farmers and mitigating environmental and climatic issues."
organizational resilience & Change are built through people-centered solutions.
In partnership with the Orangutan Veterinary Advisory Group (OVAG) and Wildlife Health Australia (WHA), we co-developed a groundbreaking model that integrates mental health, resilience, and leadership development into the professional training of wildlife health professionals. These individuals—veterinarians, caregivers, and rehabilitators—work in high-stress, resource-limited conditions on the frontlines of conservation, tending to animals impacted by trafficking, poaching, habitat loss, and climate disruption. The emotional toll, compounded by systemic burnout and cultural barriers to discussing mental wellbeing, demanded a new kind of support.
Together, we designed and facilitated a series of in-person workshops and online webinars that wove mental health and decision-making under uncertainty into technical and leadership training. These experiential sessions—shaped by the lived experiences of OVAG and WHA members—turned “soft skills” into essential infrastructure for professional sustainability, enabling wildlife health professionals to translate data into action, navigate complexity, and lead with clarity and care.
Rooted in the One Health principle—that the wellbeing of animal care teams is inextricably linked to the health of the animals and ecosystems they serve—this work transforms stories of struggle into shared strategies for resilience. Our model demonstrates that when we invest in people, we strengthen the entire conservation system.
Putting People at the Heart of Conservation: Supporting the People Who Care for Wildlife
Learn more.
Read more about our insights and our work through our blog, our podcast, and varied media and publications.
