4 year degrees are more general. In your case lets say: Animal Science. with sub areas of Pre-vet, food animal production and management, and companion animal and equine specializations.

They are high level, science based and pretty broad in what you learn. You will specialize in something when you do graduate work or when you get a job in the field.

Most 2 year programs are more focused and tend to be specific jobs or sections of the overall. One local school by me has a pretty good 2 year program for either swine or swine raised in confinement. There is also a junior college down state that has a specific poultry for meat and layers program.

There lots if things you can do in ag without a degree. Would a degree help you with what you want to do? Certainly. If you want it to help you. The thing with degrees is they are really just a piece of paper. Reality is the opposite of the Wizard of OZ. Having the piece of paper is not what makes you smart, it is the experiences and what you learned. Lots and lots of people attend college and have things taught to them. Whether they learn and apply them or not......

There are also a lot of community/junior colleges that award certificates or advanced certificates. So you can get a certificate in "ag production" for like 7 or 8 classes. Very basic. It makes you hirable in many places and gives you enough knowledge to be able to work effectively at an entry level career. (ie maybe more than just "a job.")

Next level up is an advanced certificate. Now it is maybe 12-13 classes. You get all the core ag classes and get the Agricultural Production advanced certificate. Again it may help you get into a job by putting you above the guys with nothing. You get more knowledge and are pretty hireable. Many of the colleges are basing the certificates off what the industry says they need people to know to perform in the roel they want them.

The next level would be an Associate's in Applied Science. This is all the core class for agricultural production, plus some number of electives, plus all the core AS degree english, math, humanities, etc. This a "get a job degree" these have a lot fo classes that are more specific and introductory than the college classes. A good example is IPM.. My 2 year degree pest management class was a class. It was pretty general and covered insects, weeds, and molds/fungi and how to treat all of them. Very basic and the people that took the class should have been able to ace the state license exam as an applicator. However if you went to state school and took the 4 year turfgrass degree. Insects may have been in two or three separate classes. You may have spent 2 full semester classes on weeds and weed management. It may have been 6 or 7 classes to in depth cover just for turfgrass the basics we covered for everything in a single semester.

So. What you want to do drives what degree you need to get. Look upi your local schools and the state province schools that the local place funnels into. See what programs they have. Start with a few of the classes you need to get a basic certificate. Keep going until you get where you want to go.

Almost all the farmers I know wish they knew more about the business side of things. There is a wealth of info out there. Go start to learn. The next thing to hit ag will be big data. Look to combine an advanced ag certificate with something technical. Either in the physical side of it with machine tools, CAD, and computer controlled machine work, or with the AI/programming side of things.

Someone who has experience in AG and a knowledge of the tech stuff will find a decent job and career in ag for the next several decades. The two seem to be the opposite ends of the spectrum for interest. Not many kids who think cows are cool do a lot of computer stuff, and most of the kids heavily into computers, don't have much to do with cows. (Before anyone freaks -generalization here. YOU are the exception to the rule so lay off.)