diff --git a/ckanext/harvest/commands/harvester.py b/ckanext/harvest/commands/harvester.py
index e9b44f3..818530e 100644
--- a/ckanext/harvest/commands/harvester.py
+++ b/ckanext/harvest/commands/harvester.py
@@ -111,13 +111,13 @@ class Harvester(CkanCommand):
             from ckanext.harvest.queue import get_gather_consumer
             logging.getLogger('amqplib').setLevel(logging.INFO)
             consumer = get_gather_consumer()
-            consumer.wait()
+            consumer.start_consuming()
         elif cmd == 'fetch_consumer':
             import logging
             logging.getLogger('amqplib').setLevel(logging.INFO)
             from ckanext.harvest.queue import get_fetch_consumer
             consumer = get_fetch_consumer()
-            consumer.wait()
+            consumer.start_consuming()
         elif cmd == 'initdb':
             self.initdb()
         elif cmd == 'import':
diff --git a/ckanext/harvest/queue.py b/ckanext/harvest/queue.py
index 819e790..2750a18 100644
--- a/ckanext/harvest/queue.py
+++ b/ckanext/harvest/queue.py
@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
 import logging
 import datetime
+import json
 
-from carrot.connection import BrokerConnection
-from carrot.messaging import Publisher
-from carrot.messaging import Consumer
+import pika
 
 from ckan.lib.base import config
 from ckan.plugins import PluginImplementations
@@ -27,9 +26,8 @@ VIRTUAL_HOST = '/'
 EXCHANGE_TYPE = 'direct'
 EXCHANGE_NAME = 'ckan.harvest'
 
-def get_carrot_connection():
-    backend = config.get('ckan.harvest.mq.library', 'pyamqplib')
-    log.debug("Carrot connection using %s backend" % backend)
+def get_connection():
+
     try:
         port = int(config.get('ckan.harvest.mq.port', PORT))
     except ValueError:
@@ -39,30 +37,59 @@ def get_carrot_connection():
     hostname = config.get('ckan.harvest.mq.hostname', HOSTNAME)
     virtual_host = config.get('ckan.harvest.mq.virtual_host', VIRTUAL_HOST)
 
-    backend_cls = 'carrot.backends.%s.Backend' % backend
-    return BrokerConnection(hostname=hostname, port=port,
-                            userid=userid, password=password,
-                            virtual_host=virtual_host,
-                            backend_cls=backend_cls)
+    credentials = pika.PlainCredentials(userid, password)
+    parameters = pika.ConnectionParameters(host=hostname,
+                                           port=port,
+                                           virtual_host=virtual_host,
+                                           credentials=credentials,
+                                           frame_max=10000)
+    log.debug("pika connection using %s" % parameters.__dict__)
+    
+    return pika.BlockingConnection(parameters)
+
+
+class Publisher(object):
+    def __init__(self, connection, channel, exchange, routing_key):
+        self.connection = connection
+        self.channel = channel
+        self.exchange = exchange
+        self.routing_key = routing_key
+    def send(self, body, **kw):
+        return self.channel.basic_publish(self.exchange,
+                                          self.routing_key,
+                                          json.dumps(body),
+                                          properties=pika.BasicProperties(
+                                             delivery_mode = 2, # make message persistent
+                                          ),
+                                          **kw)
+    def close(self):
+        self.connection.close()
 
 def get_publisher(routing_key):
-    return Publisher(connection=get_carrot_connection(),
-                     exchange=EXCHANGE_NAME,
-                     exchange_type=EXCHANGE_TYPE,
+    connection = get_connection()
+    channel = connection.channel()
+    channel.exchange_declare(exchange=EXCHANGE_NAME, durable=True)
+    return Publisher(connection,
+                     channel,
+                     EXCHANGE_NAME,
                      routing_key=routing_key)
 
+
 def get_consumer(queue_name, routing_key):
-    return Consumer(connection=get_carrot_connection(),
-                    queue=queue_name,
-                    routing_key=routing_key,
-                    exchange=EXCHANGE_NAME,
-                    exchange_type=EXCHANGE_TYPE,
-                    durable=True, auto_delete=False)
+
+    connection = get_connection()
+    channel = connection.channel()
+
+    channel.exchange_declare(exchange=EXCHANGE_NAME, durable=True)
+    channel.queue_declare(queue=queue_name, durable=True)
+    channel.queue_bind(queue=queue_name, exchange=EXCHANGE_NAME, routing_key=routing_key)
+
+    return channel
 
 
-def gather_callback(message_data,message):
+def gather_callback(channel, method, header, body):
     try:
-        id = message_data['harvest_job_id']
+        id = json.loads(body)['harvest_job_id']
         log.debug('Received harvest job id: %s' % id)
 
         # Get a publisher for the fetch queue
@@ -107,12 +134,12 @@ def gather_callback(message_data,message):
     except KeyError:
         log.error('No harvest job id received')
     finally:
-        message.ack()
+        channel.basic_ack(method.delivery_tag)
 
 
-def fetch_callback(message_data,message):
+def fetch_callback(channel, method, header, body):
     try:
-        id = message_data['harvest_object_id']
+        id = json.loads(body)['harvest_object_id']
         log.info('Received harvest object id: %s' % id)
 
         try:
@@ -141,17 +168,17 @@ def fetch_callback(message_data,message):
     except KeyError:
         log.error('No harvest object id received')
     finally:
-        message.ack()
+        channel.basic_ack(method.delivery_tag)
 
 def get_gather_consumer():
     consumer = get_consumer('ckan.harvest.gather','harvest_job_id')
-    consumer.register_callback(gather_callback)
+    consumer.basic_consume(gather_callback, queue='ckan.harvest.gather')
     log.debug('Gather queue consumer registered')
     return consumer
 
 def get_fetch_consumer():
-    consumer = get_consumer('ckan.harvert.fetch','harvest_object_id')
-    consumer.register_callback(fetch_callback)
+    consumer = get_consumer('ckan.harvest.fetch','harvest_object_id')
+    consumer.basic_consume(fetch_callback, queue='ckan.harvest.fetch')
     log.debug('Fetch queue consumer registered')
     return consumer
 
diff --git a/pip-requirements.txt b/pip-requirements.txt
index 5f4afbd..b376e1e 100644
--- a/pip-requirements.txt
+++ b/pip-requirements.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,3 @@
-# I'm not quite sure how to structure all this, but have put carrot
-# dependency here for buildbot. This will probably need changing
-# to suit the packaging system.
-
-carrot==0.10.1
+pika==0.9.6
 ckanclient>=0.7
 lxml==2.2.4