Ideally, what I have in mind is mapping and export utility from VegBank to VegX. Of course this means more work up front. In addition to requiring that Aaron and others (myself included) develop the complex mappings and scripts, Nick would need to make the changes to VegX that we've been recommending. But this would precisely further the cause of using an exchange schema rather than adhoc database-to-database mappings. Once in VegX, VegBank data would be loaded automatically to VegBIEN using your existing scripts. So, more work up front, less work down the road.

This would kill four birds with one stone: (1) provide a stable & reusable mechanism for getting VegBank data into VegBIEN, even if VegBIEN changes, (2) free us up to develop and optimize the VegBIEN schema, without being tied to VegBank, (3) speed the development of VegX as a comprehensive exchange schema, and (4) provide VegBank with a fully-functional VegX export utility.