Due to the multiple growths and recessions the rubber industry in Brazil has experienced, on top of the overall relationship that business and agricultural workers have always had, the work of tapping rubber trees has had a turbid past. The workers, known as seringueiros, worked in extreme isolation, and almost inevitable risk of contracting malaria,Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis. Most seringueiros worked for a patrão, or patron, to whom they sold their collected latex to be exported. Being extremely isolated was more than an emotional burden: the patrão was also the only source of supplies, and was usually eager to make back the money he paid in wages. So most of the meager wages the seringueiros earned were used to pay for exhorbantly priced supplies.1
There are basically two ways to go about collecting rubber in Brazil ~ find as many rubber trees as possible growing wild in the area, or start a plantation. Both have upsides and downsides. Finding trees in the wild left a lot to luck ~ the number and age of trees per hectare, as well as the time and energy it takes to locate and correctly identify the trees could prove unworthy of the expense. But the potential for spreading disease, and the great initial investment with no imediate pay-off scarcely make plantation rubber a better option.1 Check out this site for a detailed description of harvesting latex from Hevea.