HONG KONG — For many in China, the term “genetically modified food” evokes nightmares: poisoned seeds, contaminated fields, apocryphal images of eight-legged chickens.

China and the global agricultural industry are betting billions of dollars that they can change those perceptions. They are starting with farmers like Li Kaishun.

Mr. Li is an agricultural thought leader. The 39-year-old millet, corn and peanut farmer in China’s eastern Shandong Province quickly adopts new techniques to bolster production, such as mixing pesticides with his seeds before he plants them as a way to reduce overall pesticide use. He rents land from local farmers, giving him 100 acres in a country where the average farm takes up only one-quarter of an acre.

The next innovation he wants: genetically modified crops. That view appeals to DuPont, the American seed giant, which offers Mr. Li and his family discounts on seed, pesticides and fertilizers to cultivate those views.

One thing DuPont cannot provide — though it hopes to someday — is genetically modified seeds themselves. In China, genetically modified crops are largely banned from food destined for dinner tables.

“If there is better seed and better technology, I would definitely want it,” Mr. Li said. “But I have never seen a G.M.O. seed. Neither have I heard about anyone planting one.”

China has ambitions to be a major player in genetically modified food. One of its state-run companies is vying to acquire Syngenta, the Swiss agricultural company, for $43 billion, which would make it China’s largest foreign purchase ever. It is ramping up spending on research and development and supporting a nascent homegrown industry that it hopes can someday become China’s answer to Monsanto and DuPont. In a 2013 speech, Xi Jinping, the country’s president, told his audience, “We can’t let big foreign companies dominate our G.M.O. crops market.”