The scientific method is under siege, and not just from naysayers who dismiss climate change or fear vaccines. G.M.O.s — genetically modified organisms — and the crops they enable have become another field of battle.

Directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy, “Food Evolution” hopes to demystify G.M.O.s and points to successes like Hawaiian papayas and Ugandan bananas, which were saved from devastating viruses. And while it gives opponents their say, the film rebuts their arguments, including reports that suggest G.M.O.s lead to a rise in farmers’ suicide rates and an increase in pesticide use. (The response to the first: correlation is not causation; to the second, yes, but those pesticides are far less toxic.)

The film also speaks with food journalists (including Michael Pollan, a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine) as well as farmers who have benefited from the technology. And if trust is an issue, Neil deGrasse Tyson, perhaps the most credible public scientist on the planet, is its narrator.

The documentary acknowledges the gorilla in the garden: Monsanto, a leading exponent of modification, is “one of the most-hated companies in the world.” There are many reasons Monsanto raises hackles, Dr. Tyson acknowledges, but “to be concerned about the safety of their G.M.O.s is to be misinformed.”