In the UK with arable you can potentially make money (although probably not), and it isn't a crazy amount of work. You plant crops in the autumn, spray them a couple of times, then it's too wet to get into the field and do anything during the winter even if something goes wrong. Only really busy time is a couple of weeks in the summer for harvest.
On the other hand, livestock farming is incredibly hard work (cows need to be milked 365 days a year) and you more or less always lose money.
There are no slugs nor stink bugs in the UK? These are main topic of discussion in any gardening community in Europe throughout growing season. You can't just spray them away.
I'm not actually a farmer I just grew up in the countryside, so I'm not sure, but I think with row crops slugs are less of an issue than vegetables, and they do use slug pellets if necessary.
Pests, bad weather etc. are definitely issues even with modern farming techniques, so in a good year you make a bit of money but in a bad year you can lose most of the crop
On the other hand, livestock farming is incredibly hard work (cows need to be milked 365 days a year) and you more or less always lose money.