What is Farmstead or Artisan?

Do trendy phrases like "farmstead" and "artisan" mean anything?

Sure they do. If you go by the French classification there are four levels of production: Fermier, equivalent to our farmstead. This means the cheese was made on the farm the animals were milked on, and the milk comes from one herd. Artisan means the cheese is made off the farm, but uses the milk of only one herd. Cremier, our word might be creamery, means the cheese was made in a smaller cooperative dairy with the milk of a few different herds. Industrial means what it sounds like, cheese produced in a factory. Generally in America, we use the word "Artisan" to mean any well made cheese, and the word "Farmstead" to mean any cheese made in less than a hyper industrialized setting. The truth is most of the cheese available to us, particularly from Europe, would fall under the creamery category. Some of the greatest cheeses in the world can only be made in a creamery setting, and even industrial cheese can be great if made with care and intention. Sure, all things being equal I'd love my cheese to be fermier, but good cheese is good cheese. The proof is in the taste.