diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/railtie.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/railtie.rb
index f3f1663f76..ed3df1661a 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/railtie.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/railtie.rb
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ module ActiveRecord
       ActiveRecord::Tasks::DatabaseTasks.seed_loader = Rails.application
       ActiveRecord::Tasks::DatabaseTasks.database_configuration = Rails.application.config.database_configuration
       ActiveRecord::Tasks::DatabaseTasks.migrations_paths = Rails.application.paths['db/migrate'].to_a
+      ActiveRecord::Tasks::DatabaseTasks.fixtures_path = File.join Rails.root, 'test', 'fixtures'
 
       if defined?(ENGINE_PATH) && engine = Rails::Engine.find(ENGINE_PATH)
         if engine.paths['db/migrate'].existent
diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake b/activerecord/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake
index 6100a38d57..bb9e390c8f 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake
@@ -186,7 +186,15 @@ db_namespace = namespace :db do
     task :load => [:environment, :load_config] do
       require 'active_record/fixtures'
 
-      base_dir     = File.join [Rails.root, ENV['FIXTURES_PATH'] || %w{test fixtures}].flatten
+      base_dir = if ENV['FIXTURES_PATH']
+        STDERR.puts "Using FIXTURES_PATH env variable is deprecated, please use " +
+                    "ActiveRecord::Tasks::DatabaseTasks.fixtures_path = '/path/to/fixtures' " +
+                    "instead."
+        File.join [Rails.root, ENV['FIXTURES_PATH'] || %w{test fixtures}].flatten
+      else
+        ActiveRecord::Tasks::DatabaseTasks.fixtures_path
+      end
+
       fixtures_dir = File.join [base_dir, ENV['FIXTURES_DIR']].compact
 
       (ENV['FIXTURES'] ? ENV['FIXTURES'].split(/,/) : Dir["#{fixtures_dir}/**/*.yml"].map {|f| f[(fixtures_dir.size + 1)..-5] }).each do |fixture_file|
@@ -203,7 +211,16 @@ db_namespace = namespace :db do
 
       puts %Q(The fixture ID for "#{label}" is #{ActiveRecord::FixtureSet.identify(label)}.) if label
 
-      base_dir = ENV['FIXTURES_PATH'] ? File.join(Rails.root, ENV['FIXTURES_PATH']) : File.join(Rails.root, 'test', 'fixtures')
+      base_dir = if ENV['FIXTURES_PATH']
+        STDERR.puts "Using FIXTURES_PATH env variable is deprecated, please use " +
+                    "ActiveRecord::Tasks::DatabaseTasks.fixtures_path = '/path/to/fixtures' " +
+                    "instead."
+        File.join [Rails.root, ENV['FIXTURES_PATH'] || %w{test fixtures}].flatten
+      else
+        ActiveRecord::Tasks::DatabaseTasks.fixtures_path
+      end
+
+
       Dir["#{base_dir}/**/*.yml"].each do |file|
         if data = YAML::load(ERB.new(IO.read(file)).result)
           data.keys.each do |key|
diff --git a/activerecord/lib/active_record/tasks/database_tasks.rb b/activerecord/lib/active_record/tasks/database_tasks.rb
index 9588d6c6c6..7d1462a271 100644
--- a/activerecord/lib/active_record/tasks/database_tasks.rb
+++ b/activerecord/lib/active_record/tasks/database_tasks.rb
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ module ActiveRecord
       extend self
 
       attr_writer :current_config
-      attr_accessor :database_configuration, :migrations_paths, :seed_loader, :db_dir
+      attr_accessor :database_configuration, :migrations_paths, :seed_loader, :db_dir,
+                    :fixtures_path
 
       LOCAL_HOSTS    = ['127.0.0.1', 'localhost']