In France, trajectories documenting the development of agroecological, sustainable food systems have largely focused on cities and urban spaces. Yet, fewer projects have documented the "emergent" trajectories of more isolated, sparsely populated areas that remain very little or not at all invested in such e orts. The objective of this communication is to present the main  ndings/observations of an action-study carried out in seven predominantly rural, isolated territories in France to promote the participatory development of agro-ecological territorial food value chains. These territories face common challenges yet hold distinctive socioeconomic, cultural and political contexts in which speci c food chains are embedded. The lack of physical proximity between the di erent communities composing each territory remains a major challenge that renders the construction of these chains particularly complex. In e orts to contribute to research on agroecological transitions in French rural areas, this work provides insight on the enabling and limiting factors to participatory development/governance of emerging agro-ecological territorialized value chains. A few key limiting factors include, among others : (1) a general lack of social connection and cooperation between actors of the same emerging food chain as well as with territorial actors considered "external" to its operation ; (2) the exclusion of certain actors from local decision-making processes relating to the development of these food chains, particularly consumers, and intermediary economic operators (such as artisan butchers, breadmakers, medium and large supermarkets) ; (3) a lack of discussion about the conditions for territorial chains to be sustainable (modes of production, accessibility, among other dimensions). A few enabling factors include, among others, the advantage of including educational institutions from the project's premise, for building strong linkages with future generations of farmers appearing more concerned by these territorial food chains and by agroecological transitions.