KATHERINE FOTIADES and Mark Phillips, owners of Skydog Farm in Scituate, were among those given grants through the latest round of Rhode Island Agricultural Energy Grant Program./ PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
SCITUATE – The sustainability benefits of hydroponic cultivation always appealed to Katherine Fotiades. Growing plants in a controlled, soil-less environment uses less water and produces more food than traditional field farming. But it also has a serious and expensive environmental downside: electricity use. Fotiades, co-owner of Skydog Farm in Scituate, said the constant use of…